m 


\  i-  'XV   *    :-       •    •     *    ;-.%u-  •«"    -"-    c.  v-^   ;    >  --•     '        > 

Mx^ffiiS  JifeMife^  :-S- 


THE  LIBRARY 


OF 


THE 


OF 


UNIVERSITY 
CALIFORNIA 
DAVIS 


- 1  i 


LECTURES 


OF 


Lola  Montez 


(COUNTESS  OF  LANDSFELD) 


including  her  Autobiography 


NEW   YORK 

RUDD    &   CARLETON,    310   BROADWAY 
M  DCCC   LVIII 

LIBRARY 

UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA 
DAVIS 


Entered  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1858,  by 

EUDD  &  CARLETON, 

la  the  Clerk's  Office  of  the  District  Court  of  the  United  States  for  the  Southern 
District  of  New  York. 


E.   CRAIQHKAU, 
Printer,  Slereotyper,  and  Electrotyper, 

Carton  33utrtJtng, 

81,  83,  and  83  Centre  Strut. 


EXTRACT  FROM  THE  AMERICAN  LAW  JOURNAL. 


"  Let  Lola  Montez  have  credit  for  her  talents,  intelli 
gence,  and  her  support  of  popular  rights.  As  a  political 
character,  she  held,  until  her  retirement  from  Switzer 
land,  an  important  position  in  Bavaria  and  Germany, 
besides  having  agents  and  correspondents  in  various 
parts  of  Europe.  On  foreign  politics  she  has  clear  ideas, 
and  has  been  treated  by  the  political  men  of  the  country 
as  a  substantive  power.  She  always  kept  state  secrets, 
and  could  be  consulted  in  safety  in  cases  in  which  her 
original  habits  of  thought  rendered  her  of  service.  Act 
ing  under  her  advice,  the  king  had  pledged  himself  to  a 
course  of  steady  improvement  to  the  people.  Although 
she  wielded  so  much  power,  it  is  alleged  that  she  never 
used  it  for  the  promotion  of  unworthy  persons,  or,  as 
other  favorites  have  done,  for  corrupt  purposes;  and 
there  is  reason  to  believe  that  political  feeling  influenced 
her  course,  not  sordid  considerations." 


CON 


TENTS. 


CHAP.  PAGE 

I.  Autobiography.     Part  I.,  .         .  .  .  •       9 

II.  ««  «    II.,.     ~V. .'-.."  .  .     55 

III.  Beautiful  Women,  '.-•».  •  •  .     83 

IV.  Gallantry,-       .          .       •••'..  .  .  .125 
V.  Heroines  of  History,          .          .  .  .  -171 

VI.  Comic  Aspect  of  Love,    .        v  v  ,  .'  .  .  207 

VII.  Wits  and  Women  of  Paris,         ./  .     ;    .  .  231 

VIII.  Romanism,      •*         .      -.y*  '"'V-'  •  •  •  265 


AUTOBIOGRAP  HY 


PART    I. 


AUTOBI  OGRAPHY. 
PART   I. 


THE  right  of  defining  one's  position  seems  to  be  a 
very  sacred  privilege  in  America,  and  I  must  avail 
myself  of  it,  in  entering  upon  the  novel  business  of 
this  lecture.  Several  leading  and  influential  journals 
have  more  than  once  called  for  a  lecture  on  Lola 
Montez,  and  as  it  is  reasonably  supposed  that  I  am 
about  as  well  acquainted  with  that  "  eccentric"  indi 
vidual  (as  the  newspapers  call  her)  as  any  lady  in 
this  country,  the  task  of  such  an  undertaking  has 
fallen  upon  me. 

It  is  not  a  pleasant  duty  for  me  to  perform.  For, 
however  fearless,  or  if  you  please,  however  impudent 


1 2  Autobiography. 

I  may  be  in  asserting  and  maintaining  my  opinions 
and  my  rights,  yet  I  must  confess  to  a  great  deal  of 
diffidence  when  I  come  to  speak  personally  of  one  so 
nearly  related  to  me  as  Lola  Montez  is.  As  Burns 
says,  "  we  were  girls  together."  .  The  smiles  and 
tears  of  our  childhood,  the  joys  and  sorrows  of  our 
girlhood,  and  the  riper  and  somewhat  stormy  events 
of  womanhood,  have  all  been  shared  with  her.  There 
fore,  you  will  perceive,  that  to  speak  of  her,  is  the 
very  next  thing  to  speaking  of  myself. 
.  But  though  we  are  friends  of  such  long  standing,  I 
have  not  come  to  be  the  eulogist  or  apologist  of  Lola 
Montez ;  I  am  not  quite  sure  that  she  would  accept 
such  a  service  even  from  her  best  friend. 

A  woman,  like  a  man  of  true  courage,  instinctively 
prefers  to  face  the  public  deeds  of  her  life,  rather  than, 
by  cowardly  shifts,  to  skulk  and  hide  away  from  her 
own  historical  presence. 

Perhaps  the  noblest  courage,  after  all,  is  to  dare  to 
meet  one's  self — to  sit  down  face  to  face  with  one's 
own  .  life,  and  confront  all  those  deeds  which  may 


Autobiography.  1 3 

have  influenced  the  mind  or  manners  of  society,  for 
good  or  evil. 

As  applied  to  women,  of  course  this  remark  can  be 
true  only  of  those  who  have,  to  some  extent,  per 
formed  tasks  usually  imposed  upon  men.  That  is, 
she  must  have  performed  some  deeds  which  have  left 
their  mark  upon  society,  before  she  can  come  within 
the  rule. 

An  inane  piece  of  human  wax- work,  whose  life  has 
consisted  merely  of  powdering,  drinking  tea,  going 
to  the  opera,  flirting,  and  sleeping,  has  had  no  life 
to  be  taken  into  the  count  in  this  connexion.  Sho 
may  have  been  useful,  as  a  pretty  piece  of  statuary,  to 
fill  a  nook  in  a  private  house,  or  as  a  pleasant  piece 
of  furniture  for  a  drawing-room;  but  there  are  no 
rules  of  her  moral  and  social  being  which  can  justly 
be  applied  to  one  whose  more  positive  nature  forces 
her  out  into  the  mighty  field  of  the  world,  where  the 
crowd  and  crush  of  opposing  interests  come  together 
in  the  perpetual  battle  of  life. 

What  can  a  woman  do  oujb  there  who  cannot  take 


14  Autobiography. 

her  part !  A  good  tea-drinker — a  merely  good  drawing 
room  flirt,  would  make  a  very  sorry  shift  of  it,  I  fear ! 
She  must  have  a  due  degree  of  the  force  of  resistance 
to  be  able  to  stand  in  those  tidal  shocks  of  the  world. 
Alas !  for  a  woman  whose  circumstances,  or  whose  na 
tural  propensities  and  powers  push  her  forward  beyond 
the  line  of  the  ordinary  routine  of  female  life,  unless 
she  possesses  a  saving  amount  of  that  force  of  resist 
ance.  Many  a  woman  who  has  had  strength  to  get 
outside  of  that  line,  has  not  possessed  the  strength  to 
stand  there ;  and  the  fatal  result  has  been  that  she  has 
been  swept  down  into  the  gulf  of  irredeemable  sin. 
The  great  misfortune  was  that  there  was  too  much  of 
her  to  be  held  within  the  prescribed  and  safe  limits 
allotted  to  woman;  but  there  was  not  enough  to 
enable  her  to  stand  securely  beyond  the  shelter  of 
conventional  rules. 

Within  this  little  bit  of  philosophy  there  is  a  key 
which  unlocks  the  dark  secret  of  the  fall  and  ever 
lasting  ruin  of  many  of  the  most  beautiful  and  natu 
rally-gifted  women  in  the  world. 


Autobiography.  ij 

There  was  as  much  truth  as  wit  in  the  old  writer 
who  said  that  "  the  woman  of  extraordinary  beauty, 
who  has  also  sufficient  intellect  to  render  her  of  an 
independent  mind,  ought  also  to  be  able  to  assume 
the  quills  of  the  porcupine  in  self-defence." 

At  any  rate,  such  is  the  social  and  moral  fabric  of 
the  world,  that  woman  must  be  content  with  an  ex 
ceedingly  narrow  sphere  of  action,  or  she  must  take 
the  worst  consequences  of  daring  to  be  an  innovator 
and  a  heretic.  She  must  be  either  the  servant  or  the 
spoiled  plaything  of  man ;  or  she  must  take  the  re 
sponsibility  of  making  herself  a  target  to  be  shot  at 
by  the  most  corrupt  and  cowardly  of  her  own  sex, 
and  by  the  ill-natured  and  depraved  of  the  opposite 
gender. 

Daniel  O'Connell  used  to  be  proud  of  being,  as  he 
said,  "  the  best  abused  man  in  the  world."  I  do  not 
know  whether  Lola  Montez  has  been  the  best  abused 
woman  in  the  world  or  not,  but  she  has  been  pretty 
well  abused  at  any  rate ;  and  has  the  honor,  I  be 
lieve,  of  having  caused  more  newspaper  paragraphs 


16  Autobiography. 

and  more  biographies  than  any  woman  living.  I  have, 
myself,  seen  twenty-three  or  twenty-four  pretended 
biographies  of  Lola  Montez ;  not  one  of  which,  how 
ever,  came  any  nearer  to  being  a  biography  of  her, 
than  it  did  to  being  an  authentic  history  of  the  man 
in  the  moon.  Seven  cities  claimed  old  Homer,  but 
the  biographers  have  given  Lola  Montez  to  more 
than  three  times  seven  cities.  And  a  laughable  thing 
is,  that  not  one  of  all  these  biographers  has  yet  hit 
upon  the  real  place  of  her  birth.  One  makes  her 
born  in  Spain,  another  in  Geneva,  another  in  Cuba, 
another  in  India,  another  in  Turkey,  and  so  on.  And 
at  last,  a  certain  fugitive  from  the  gallows  will 
have  it,  that  she  was  born  of  a  washerwoman  in 
Scotland.  And  so  of  her  parentage — one  author 
makes  her  the  child  of  a  Spanish  gipsy ;  another,  the 
daughter  of  Lord  Byron ;  another,  of  a  native  prince 
of  India,  and  so  on,  until  they  have  given  her  more 
fathers  than  there  are  signs  in  the  zodiac. 

I  declare,  if  I  were  Lola  Montez,  I  should  begin  to 
doubt  whether  I  ever  had  a  father,  or  whether  I  was 


Autobiography.  1 7 

ever  born  at  all,  except  in  some  such  fashion  aa 
Minerva  was  said  to  be — born  of  the  brain  of  Jupiter. 

Lola  Montez  has  had  a  more  difficult  time  to  get 
born  than  even  that,  for  she  has  had  to  be  born  over 
and  over  again  of  the  separate  brain  of  every  man 
who  has  attempted  to  write  her  history. 

Happily,  however,  I  possess  the  means  of  settling 
this  confused  question,  and  of  relieving  the  doubts 
of  this  unfortunate  lady  in  relation  to  her  parentage 
and  birthplace ;  while  I  may  at  the  same  time  gratify 
the  curiosity  of  those  who  have  honored  me  with 
their  presence  here  to-night. 

Lola  Montez  was  then  actually  born  in  the  city  of 
Limerick,  in  the  year  of  our  Lord,  1824.  I  hope  she 
will  forgive  me  for  telling  her  age.  Her  father  was 
a  son  of  Sir  Edward  Gilbert;  and  his  mother,  Lady 
Gilbert,  was  considered,  I  believe,  one  of  the  hand 
somest  women  of  her  time.  The  mother  of  Lola  was 
an  Oliver,  of  Castle  Oliver,  and  her  family  name  was 
of  the  Spanish  noble  family  of  Montalvo,  descended 
from  Count  de  Montalvo,  who  once  possessed  im- 


1 8  Autobiography. 

mense  estates  in  Spain,  all  of  which,  were  lost  in  the 
wars  with  the  French  and  other  nations.  The  Mon- 
talvos  were  originally  of  Moorish  blood,  who  came 
into  Spain  at  the  time  of  Ferdinand  and  Isabella  the 
Catholic.  So  that  the  fountain-head  of  the  blood 
which  courses  in  the  veins  of  the  erratic  Lola  Montez 
is  Irish  and  Moorish-Spanish — a  somewhat  combus 
tible  compound  it  must  be  confessed. 

Her  father,  the  young  Gilbert,  was  made  an  ensign 
in  the  English  army  when  he  was  seventeen  years 
old,  and  before  he  was  twenty,  he  was  advanced  to 
the  rank  of  Captain  of  the  44th  Regiment.  He  was 
but  little  more  than  twenty  at  the  time  of  his  mar 
riage,  and  her  mother  was  about  fifteen.  Lola  was 
born  during  the  second  year  of  this  marriage — 
making  her  little  debut  upon  this  sublunary  stage 
in  the  midst  of  the  very  honeymoon  of  the  young 
people,  and  when  they  had  hardly  tune  to  give 
a  proper  reception  to  so  extraordinary  a  per 
sonage. 

She  was  baptized  by  the  name  of  MARIE  DOLORES 


Autobiography.  19 

ELIZA  EOSANNA  GILBERT.  She  was  always  called 
DOLORES,  the  diminutive  of  which  is  LOLA. 

Soon  after  the  birth  of  this  DOLORES,  the  44th 
Eegiment,  of  which  her  father  was  a  captain,  was 
ordered  to  India.  I  have  heard  her  mother  say  that 
the  passage  to  India  lasted  about  four  months — that 
they  landed  at  Calcutta,  where  they  remained  about 
three  years,  when  the  Governor-General,  Lord  Hast 
ings,  ordered  the  44th  Eegiment  to  Dinapore,  some 
distance  in  the  interior,  upon  the  Ganges.  Soon 
after  the  army  arrived  at  this  spot,  the  cholera  broke 
out  with  terrible  violence,  and  her  father  was  among 
its  first  victims.  There  was  a  young  and  gallant 
officer  by  the  name  of  Craigie,  whom  her  father 
loved,  and  when  dying  and  too  far  gone  to  speak, 
he  took  his  child  and  wife's  hand  and  put  them,  in 
the  hand  of  this  young  officer,  with  an  imploring 
look,  that  he  would  be  kind  to  them  when  death  had 
done  its  work. 

The  mother  of  Lola  Montez  was  thus  left  a  widow 
before  she  was  eighteen  years  old;  and  she  was 


2o  Autobiography. 

confided  to  the  care  and  protection  of  Mrs.  General 
Brown.  You  can  have  but  a  faint  conception  of  the 
responsibility  of  the  charge  of  a  handsome,  young 
European  widow  in  India. 

The  hearts  of  a  hundred  officers,  young  and  old, 
beat  all  at  once  with  such  violence  for  her,  that  the 
whole  atmosphere  for  ten  miles  round  fairly  throbbed 
with  the  emotion.  But  in  this  instance  the  general 
fever  did  not  last  long,  for  Captain  Craigie  led  the 
young  widow  Gilbert  to  the  altar  himself.  He  was 
a  man  of  high  intellectual  accomplishments,  and  soon 
after  this  marriage  his  regiment  was  ordered  back 
to  Calcutta,  and  he  was  advanced  to  the  rank  of 
major. 

At  this  time  the  child  Lola  was  little  more  than 
six  years  old,  when  she  was  sent  to  Europe  to  the 
care  of  Major  Craigie's  father  at  Montrose,  in  Scot 
land.  This  venerable  man  had  been  provost  of 
Montrose  for  nearly  a  quarter  of  a  century,  and  the 
dignity  of  his  profession,  as  well  as  the  great  respect 
ability  of  the  family,  made  every  event  connected 


Autobiography.  2 1 

with  his  household  a  matter  of  some  public  note,  and 
the  arrival  of  the  queer,  wayward,  little  East  Indian 
girl  was  immediately  known  to  all  Montrose.  The 
peculiarity  of  her  dress,  and  I  dare  say  not  a  little 
eccentricity  in  her  manners,  served  to  make  her  an 
object  of  curiosity  and  remark ;  and  very  likely  the 
child  perceived  that  she  was  somewhat  of  a  public 
character,  and  may  have  begun,  even  at  this  early 
age,  to  assume  airs  and  customs  of  her  own. 

"With  this  family,  however,  she  remained  but  a 
short  time,  when  her  parents  became  somehow 
impressed  with  the  idea  that  she  was  being  petted 
and  spoiled,  and  she  was  removed  to  the  family  of 
Sir  Jasper  Nichols,  of  London,  commander-in-chief 
of  the  Bengal  forces.  His  family  remained  in  Paris 
for  the  sake  of  educating  their  daughters.  After 
several  years  in  Paris,  Miss  Fanny  Nichols  and  the 
young  Lola  were  sent  to  Bath  for  eighteen  months  to 
undergo  the  operation  of  what  is  properly  called 
finishing  their  education.  At  the  expiration  of  this 
finishing  campaign,  Lola's  mother  came  from  India 


22  Autobiography. 

for  the  purpose  of  taking  her  daughter  back  with  her 
She  was  then  fourteen  years  old ;  and  from  the  first 
moment  of  her  mother's  arrival,  there  was  a  great  hub 
bub  of  new  dresses,  and  all  manner  of  extravagant 
queer-looking  apparel,  especially  for  the  wardrobe  of 
a  young  girl  of  fourteen  years.  The  little  Dolores 
made  bold  enough  one  day  to  ask  her  mother  what 
this  was  all  about,  and  received  for  an  answer  that  it 
did  not  concern  her — that  children  should  not  be 
inquisitive,  nor  ask  idle  questions.  But  there  was  a 
Captain  James  of  the  army  in  India,  who  came  out 
with  her  mother,  who  informed  the  young  Lola  that 
all  this  dressmaking  business  was  for  her  own  wedding 
clothes,  that  her  mother  had  promised  her  in  mar 
riage  to  Sir  Abraham  Lumly,  a  rich  and  gouty  old 
rascal  of  sixty  years,  and  Judge  of  the  Supreme 
Court  in  India.  This  put  the  first  fire  to  the  maga 
zine.  The  little  madcap  cried  and  stormed  alter 
nately.  The  mother  was  determined,  so  was  her 
child.  The  mother  was  inflexible,  so  was  her  child, 
and  in  the  wildest  language  of  defiance  she  told  her 


Autobiography.  23 

that  she  never  would  be  thus  thrown  alive  into  the 
jaws  of  death. 

Here,  then,  was  one  of  those  fatal  family  quarrels, 
where  the  child  is  forced  to  disobey  parental  authority, 
or  to  throw  herself  away  into  irredeemable  wretched 
ness  and  ruin.  It  is  certainly  a  fearful  responsibility 
for  a  parent  to  assume  of  forcing  a  child  to  such  alter 
natives.  But  the  young  Dolores  sought  the  advice 
and  assistance  of  her  mother's  friend,  Captain  James. 
He  was  twenty-seven  years  of  age,  and  ought  to  have 
been  capable  of  giving  good  and  safe  counsel.  In 

tears  and  despair  she  appealed  to  him  to  save  her 

/ 

from  this  detested  marriage — a  thing  which  he  cer 
tainly  did  most  effectually,  by  eloping  with  her  the 
next  day  himself.  The  pair  went  to  Ireland,  to  Cap 
tain  James's  family,  where  they  had  a  great  muss  in 
trying  to  get  married.  No  clergyman  could  be  found 
who  would  marry  so  young  a  child  without  a  mother's 
consent.  The  captain's  sister  put  off  for  Bath,  to  try 
and  get  the  mother's  consent.  At  first  she  would  not 
listen,  but  at  last  good  sense  so  far  prevailed  as  to  make 


24  Autobiography. 

her  see  that  nothing  but  evil  and  sorrow  could  come 
of  her  refusal,  and  she  consented,  but  would  neither 
be  present  at  the  wedding,  nor  send  her  blessing.  So 
in  flying  from  that  marriage  with  ghastly  and  gouty 
old  age,  the  child  lost  her  mother,  and  gained  what 
proved  to  be  only  the  outside  shell  of  a  husband, 
who  had  neither  a  brain  which  she  could  respect,  nor 
a  heart  which  it  was  possible  for  her  to  love.  Kun- 
away  matches,  like  run-away  horses,  are  almost  sure 
to  end  in  a  smash-up. 

My  advice  to  all  young  girls  who  contemplate 
taking  such  a  step,  is.  that  they  had  better  hang  or 
drown  themselves  just  one  hour  before  they  start. 

Captain  James  remained  with  his  child- wife  eight 
months  in  Ireland,  when  he  joined  his  regiment  in 
India.  The  first  season  of  Lola's  life  in  India  was 
spent  in  the  gay  and  fashionable  city  of  Calcutta, 
after  which  time  the  regiment  was  ordered  to  Kurwal, 
in  the  interior. 

The  fashion  of  travelling  in  India  I  fancy  can  never 
be  made  agreeable  to  an  American  or  a  European — 


Autobiography.  25 

certainly  not  to  one  of  kind  and  humane  feelings ;  for 
human  beings  are  there  used  to  perform  the  office  of 
horses,  carrying  you  on  their  shoulders  in  a  palan 
quin.  A  palanquin  is  a  kind  of  square  box,  hand 
somely  painted  outside,  with  soft  cushions  inside,  and 
side-lamps  like  a  carriage.  To  each  palanquin  there 
are  usually  eight  bearers,  four  of  whom  are  employed 
at  a  time.  It  is  astonishing  to  see  the  amount  of 
fatigue  which  these  human  horses  will  endure.  But  I 
have  seen  the  poor  creatures  almost  sink  down  with 
exhaustion,  as  they  set  down  their  burden  after  a  long 
journey  through  the  burning  sun,  that  would  almost 
kill  a  man  to  sit  still  in  twenty  minutes.  But  still,  as 
human  nature  will  somehow  adapt  itself  to  whatever 
circumstances  may  surround  it,  these  hapless  beings 
contrive  to  make  a  merry  life  among  themselves. 
You  will  hear  them  sing  their  jolly  songs  under  their 
heavy  burdens.  The  chants  of  the  palanquin  bearers 
are  sometimes  very  amusing,  and  will  serve  to  give 
you  an  idea  of  the  native  genius  of  India.  Though 
they  keep  all  the  time  to  the  same  sing-song  tune,  yet 


26  Autobiography. 

they  generally  invent  the  words  as  they  go  along.  I 
will  give  you  a  sample,  as  well  as  it  could  be  made 
out,  of  what  I  heard  them  sing,  while  carrying  an 
English  clergyman  who  could  not  have  weighed  less 
than  two  hundred  and  twenty-five  pounds.  I  must 
premise  that  palkee  is  the  Hindostanee  word  for 
palanquin,  and  each  line  of  the  following  jargon  was 
sung  in  a  different  voice : — 

Oh,  what  a  heavy  bag  I 

No ;  it  is  an  elephant ; 

He  is  an  awful  weight 

Let's  throw  his  palkee  down — 

Let's  set  him  in  the  mud — 

Let's  leave  him  to  his  fate. 

No,  for  he'll  be  angry  then ; 

Ay,  and  he'll  beat  us  then 

With  a  thick  stick. 

Then  let's  make  haste  and  get  along, 

Jump  along  quick. 

And  off  they  started  in  a  jog-trot,  which  must  have 
shaken  every  bone  in  his  reverence's  body,  keeping 
chorus  all  the  time  of  "jump  along  quick,  jump 


Autobiography.  27 

along  quick,"  until  they  were  obliged  to  stop  for 
laugMng. 

They  invariably  suit  these  extempore  chants  to  the 
weight  and  character  of  their  burden.  I  remember  to 
have  been  exceedingly  amused  one  day  at  the  merry 
chant  of  my  human  horses  as  they  started  off  on  the 
run.  I  must  mention,  that  cabbada  means  "  take 
care,"  and  larba  means  "young  lady." 

She's  not  heavy, 

Cabbada ! 
Little  barba, 

Cabbada 1 
Carry  her  swiftly, 

Cabbada! 
Pretty  barba, 

Cabbada! 

And  so  they  went  on  singing  and  extemporising 
for  the  whole  hour  and  a  half's  journey.  It  is  quite 
a  common  custom  to  give  them  four  annas  (or  Eng- 
glish  sixpence)  apiece,  at  the  end  of  every  stage 
when  fresh  horses  are  put  under  the  burden ;  but  a  gen- 


28  Autobiography. 

tleman  of  my  acquaintance,  who  had  been  carried  too 
slowly,  as  he  thought,  only  gave  them  two  annas 
apiece.  The  consequence  was  that  during  the  next 
stage,  the  men  not  only  went  much  faster,  but  they 
make  him  laugh  with  their  characteristic  song,  the 
whole  burden  of  which  was,  "He  has  only  given 
them  two  annas,  because  they  went  slowly ;  Let  us 
make  haste  and  go  along  quickly,  and  then  we  shall 
get  eight  annas  and  have  a  good  supper." 

The  native  princes  of  India  generally  possessed 
great  wealth,  as  I  may  illustrate  by  a  description  of 
the  grand  reception  given  by  Eunjeet  Singh  of 
Sind,  to  Lord  Auckland  and  the  British  army  on  its 
way  to  Cabul.  Eunjeet  Singh  was  one  of  the  richest 
and  most  powerful  of  the  native  princes  of  India,  and 
this  grand.reception  took  place  at  his  chief  city  of  La 
hore,  on  the  banks  of  the  Indus. 

This  prince  had  tents  erected  to  receive  the  whole 
British  army.  My  father,  who  was  Adjutant-General 
of  the  army  in  India,  was  there  with  my  mother. 
The  tents  erected  for  the  officers  were  lined  with  gold 


Autobiography.  2Cj 

and  silver  trimmings,  and  with  the  richest  cashmere 
shawls.  The  Indian  prince  gave  an  audience  to  the 
British  officers  in  a  palace,  the  walls  of  which  were 
studded  with  agates,  cornelians,  turquoises,  and  every 
kind  of  precious  stone;  and  the  officers,  servants, 
and  even  elephants  of  the  prince  were  also  covered 
with  jewels.  My  mother,  with  several  other  wives 
of  the  British  officers,  was  present  at  this  magnificent 
audience.  After  the  consultation,  the  prince,  dressed 
in  a  perfectly  white  muslin,  with  no  jewels  except 
those  in  his  turban,  took  his  seat  on  a  throne  of  gold, 
and  Lord  Auckland  was  placed  on  another  golden 
throne  representing  the  throne  of  England. 

After  this  ceremony  came  in,  according  to  the 
custom  of  the  country,  the  rich  presents  for  the 
English  officers,  which  were  distributed  with  strict 
reference  to  the  rank  of  each  officer.  These  presents 
consisted  of  trays  full  of  the  most  precious  stones  and 
jewels.  My  mother  described  what  a  lapful  of 
these  precious  things  was  presented  to  her — every 
one  of  which,  however,  she  had  to  give  up  to  the 


30  Autobiography. 

government — for  I  ought  to  tell  you  that  every  British 
officer  in  India  is  obliged  to  take  an  oath  that  he  will 
faithfully  give  up  to  government  all  presents  that 
may  be  given  him  by  the  native  princes.  Every 
month  there  is  a  public  sale  of  all  such  gifts,  which 
has  been  an  immense  wealth  to  the  East  India 
Company. 

Well,  after  all  these  splendid  gifts  from  the  Indian 
prince,  Lord  Auckland  ordered  in  the  presents  which 
the  English  had  provided  for  the  prince  and  his 
officers,  which  consisted  of  imitation  gold  and  silver 
ornaments,  swords,  rusty  old  pistols,  and  all  sorts  of 
trumpery,  which  Eunjeet  Singh  received  without 
moving  a  muscle  of  his  face. 

But  the  most  extraordinary  gift  of  the  great  prince 
was  yet  to  come.  He  gave  a  splendid  dance  in  the 
evening  to  the  British  officers,  at  which  the  most 
beautiful  dancing  girls  of  his  harem  were  presented. 
These  beautiful  girls  were  all  Circassian  and  Georgian 
slaves  of  the  prince.  There  were  just  as  many  of 
them  present  as  there  were  British  officers,  and  each 


Autobiography.  31 

girl  had  a  fortune  of  jewels  and  precious  stones  on 
her  person.  At  the  conclusion  of  the  dance,  the 
prince  presented  each  of  her  majesty's  officers  with 
one  of  these  richly  loaded  girls  as  a  present — giving 
the  richest  and  most  beautiful  one  to  the  highest 
officers,  and  so  down  the  regular  gradations  of 
rank. 

The  peculiar  looks  on  the  faces  of  the  English 
officers  that  followed  this  scene,  I  shall  not  attempt  to 
describe.  But  I  can  easily  imagine  with  what  a  sad 
countenance  old  Lord  Auckland  informed  the  prince 
that  English  law  and  English  civilization  did  not 
quite  allow  her  majesty's  officers  to  receive  such  a 
peculiar  kind  of  presents,  and  I  am  afraid  that  the 
young  officers — no — the  gentlemen  who  hear  me  can 
so  much  better  appreciate  their  disappointment  than 
I  can,  that  it  will  be  folly  for  me  to  attempt  to 
describe  it. 

As  a  singular  example  of  the  romance  often  found 
in  the  history  of  the  native  rulers  of  India,  I  may 
refer  to  a  famous  queen  of  a  province  near  Merut, 


32  Autobiography. 

who  by  her  great  tact  and  diplomacy  managed  to  keep 
her  possessions,  and  obtain  many  favors  from  the 
English  government.  She  began  life  as  a  dancing 
girl,  and  one  of  the  commonest  of  her  profession  at 
that.  But  she  was  very  beautiful,  it  was  said,  when 
young.  The  old  king  of  the  province  had  a  grand 
dance,  and  among  five  hundred  girls  she  appeared, 
and  so  won  the  admiration  of  the  monarch,  that  he 
had  her  engaged  to  sing  and  dance  regularly  at  his 
court.  Little  by  little  she  won  his  heart  until  he 
married  her,  and  raised  her  to  the  queenly  dignity. 
For  some  time  all  went  on  well,  the  bewitching  young 
queen  really  being  the  king  herself.  At  length  there 
came  into  that  little  kingdom  an  adventurer,  a 
European,  by  the  name  of  Dyce  Sombre,  who  entered 
the  army  of  the  Indian  king.  He  was  young  and 
very  handsome,  and  the  charming  queen  took  a  fancy 
to  him,  which  soon  ripened  into  an  intrigue,  and  she 
at  once  set  about  a  plan  to  get  the  old  king  out  of  the 
way.  With  daring  ingenuity  she  projected  a  revolu 
tion,  and  fired  the  old  king  up  with  most  desperate 


Autobiography.  33 

determinations  in  resisting  it,  at  the  same  time  telling 

him  she  was  determined  not  to  survive  his  defeat,  and 

• 
she  assured  him  that  if  the  battle  was  lost,  she  would 

send  him  a  handkerchief  soaked  in  her  blood ;  and 
she  did  dip  the  handkerchief  in  somebody's  blood, 
and  sent  it  to  her  despairing  lord,  who  himself  pre 
ferred  death  to  defeat,  and  did  what  he  supposed  was 
following  his  queen  to  the  other  world.  But  she  had 
prudently,  though  most  wickedly,  stayed  behind,  in 
the  company  of  the  handsome  foreigner.  She  after 
wards  had  a  son,  who  was  acknowledged  by  the  Eng 
lish  government  as  heir  to  her  throne.  She  grew  to 
be  very  jealous  of  her  husband,  and  when  she  one 
day  caught  him  looking  at  a  beautiful  young  girl,  she 
instantly  sent  for  some  workmen,  and  had  a  deep  hole 
dug  under  her  footstool,  and  into  this  she  had  the 
young  girl  plunged  and  buried  alive.  When  I  saw 
this  remarkable  woman,  she  was  shrivelled  up  a  little, 
dressed  in  plain  white,  without  a  single  jewel  01 
ornament  upon  her  person.  On  her  death,  the  British 

government  abolished  her  throne  and  pensioned  her 

2* 


34  Autobiography. 

son,  wliicli  was  the  way  it  kept  its  promise  to  the 
queen. 

I  have  dwelt  upon  this  little  episode  of  kingly  love, 
because  it  illustrates  the  fact,  that  the  native  princes 
of  India  sometimes  continue  to  imitate  the  more 
refined  manners  of  civilized  courts. 

The  native  princes  of  India  were  generally  slaves 
to  their  senses,  and  many  of  them  were  ruled  by  the 
will  or  caprice  of  their  fair  and  fascinating  ladies. 
The  powerful  Raja  of  Jypur  became  such  a  slave  to 
an  infatuated  attachment  to  a  beautiful  Mahomedan 
dancing  girl,  that  he  lost  nearly  all  his  hereditary  pos 
sessions  ;  and  what  was  spared,  was  from  the  suffer 
ance  of  Ameer  Khan. 

There  was  another  instance  in  Tulasi  Bai,  a  woman 
of  low  extraction,  whose  beauty  captured  and  enslaved 
the  mind  of  Malhar  Rao ;  and  so  well  did  she  play  her 
cards,  that  after  the  death  of  the  prince  she  was  made 
Regent  to  his  successor,  the  young  Holkar.  Her 
regency  gave  the  British  government,  and  the  British 
army,  the  greatest  embarrassments.  It  was  through 


Autobiography.  35 

her  instrumentality  that  a  general  confederacy  was 
made  against  the  English.  But  the  fortunes  of  war 
threw  this  female  general  into  their  hands,  and  so 
much  were  her  skill  and  power  dreaded,  that  she  was 
carried  immediately  to  the  banks  of  a  river,  where 
her  head  was  severed  from  her  body,  and  her  body' 
thrown  into  the  stream,  as  if  determined  to  make  it 
doubly  sure  that  she  was  really  out  of  the  way.  This 
beautiful  and  powerful  woman  was  not  thirty  years  of 
age  at  the  time  of  her  death. 

The  respectable  women  of  the  natives  never  appear 
in  public — never  go  to  parties — never  look  upon  the 
face  of  a  man,  except  a  member  of  their  family. 
They  consider  it  an  irreparable  disgrace  if  their  faces 
should  be  seen  by  a  stranger. 

If  a  stranger  visits  a  family,  he  may  converse  with 
the  lady  on  the  other  side  of  a'thickly  wadded  curtain 
• — but  that  is  considered  a  mark  of  great  favor  to  a 
visitor.  I  have  known  some  of  the  more  liberal 
allow  their  wives  to  shake  hands  with  a  particular 
friend,  through  a  hole ! 


36  Autobiography. 

These  native  women  of  India  are  often  very  beau 
tiful.  And  you  may  have  a  curiosity  to  know  if  they 
ever  have  any  intrigues  ?  You  can  judge  for  your 
selves  what  chance  there  can  be.  Such  a  thing, 
if  found  out,  would  be  instant  death.  The  natives 
of  India  are  not  much  like  that  amiable  American 
who  told  an  affectionate  neighbor,  that  if  he  ever 
caught  him  kissing  his  wife  again,  there  would  be  a 
coolness  grow  up  between  them.  But  the  women  of 
India  do  sometimes  elude  the  vigilance  of  their  jea 
lous  lords.  Still,  as  a  general  thing,  India  in  this  par 
ticular  gives  the  lie  to  the  old  proverb  that,  "  Where 
there  is  a  will  there  is  a  way." 

The  jewels  worn  by  these  native  women  are  of 
great  beauty  and  cost ;  and  those  well  to  do  in  the 
world,  will  have  a  different  dress  for  every  day  in  the 
year.  Does  not  that  beat  Fifth  Avenue  ?  I  may  add 
that  these  women  are  horribly  jealous,  and  very  vin 
dictive,  as  all  orientals  are.  It  would  take  a  mis 
sionary  his  lifetime  to  make  one  of  them  understand 
the  motives  of  a  fashionable  European  or  an  Ameri- 


Autobiography.  37 

can  lady,  who  will  often  take  a  great  deal  of  pains  tc 
get  her  husband  into  an  actual  flirtation  with  some 
other  woman.  The  women  of  India  do  not  exactly 
understand  the  philosophical  principle  involved  in 
the  proposition  that  a  husband  cannot  see  two  ways 
at  once. 

The  European  and  American  women  are  so  much 
better  educated  than  their  sisters  in  India. 

But  we  left  Lola  Montez  on  her  journey  to  Karwal, 
where,  after  some  little  general  pleasure-riding,  she  was 
taken  to  visit  a  Mrs.  Lomer — a  pretty  woman,  who 
was  about  thirty -three  years  of  age,  and  was  a  great 
admirer  of  Capt.  James.  Her  husband  was  a  blind 
fool  enough ;  and  though  Captain  James's  little  wife, 
Lola,  was  not  exactly  a  fool,  yet  it  is  quite  likely  she 
did  not  care  enough  about  him  to  keep  a  look-out 
upon  what  was  going  on  between  himself  and  Mrs. 
Lomer.  So  she  used  to  be  peacefully  sleeping  every 
morning  when  the  Captain  and  Mrs.  Lomer  were  off 
to  a  sociable  ride  on  horseback.  In  this  way 
things  went  on  for  a  long  time,  when  one  morning 


38  Autobiography. 

Captain  James  and  Mrs.  Lomer  did  not  get  back  to 
breakfast — and  so  the  little  Mrs.  James  and  Mr. 
Lomer  breakfasted  alone,  wondering  what  had  become 
of  the  morning  riders. 

But  all  doubts  were  soon  cleared  up  by  the  fact 
coming  fully  to  light,  that  they  had  really  eloped  to 
Neilghery  Hills.  Poor  Lomer  stormed,  and  raved,  and 
tore  himself  to  pieces,  not  having  the  courage  to 
attack  anybody  else.  And  little  Lola  wondered,  cried 
a  little,  and  laughed  a  good  deal,  especially  at  Lomer's 
rage.  Finally,  all  the  officers'  wives  got  together  and 
held  a  consultation  over  her,  as  to  what  was  to  be 
done  with  her.  At  first  she  was  confided  to  the  care 
of  a  Mrs.  Palmer.  Then  it  was  afterwards  resolved 
that  it  was  best  to  send  her  to  her  mother  at  Calcutta. 
This  was  a  bitter  necessity  for  her,  for  she  dreaded  her 
mother ;  she  knew  that  she  had  never  been  forgiven 
the  elopement,  and  now  to  be  sent  to  her  after  the 
fatal  fruits  of  that  folly  were  so  apparent,  was  indeed 
a  bitter  necessity. 

The  meeting  of  the  mother  and  the  child  was  by 


Autobiography.  39 

no  means  a  pleasant  one.  The  latter  was  locked  up 
in  a  chamber,  and  confined,  till  her  mother  procured 
a  certificate  from  a  doctor  that  the  little  prisoner  was 
in  ill  health,  and  must  be  sent  to  Europe.  General 
Craigie,  her  step-father,  certainly  thought  this  treat 
ment  unusually  severe,  if  not  unwise.  Large  tears 
rolled  down  his  cheeks  when  he  took  her  on  board 
the  vessel ;  and  he  testified  his  affection  and  his  care; 
by  placing  in  the  hand  of  the  little  grass- widow  a 
check  for  a  thousand  pounds  on  a  house  in  London. 
She  was  to  be  sent  to  the  care  of  a  branch  of  the 
Craigie  family,  which  lived  at  Perth,  in  Scotland ;  and 
an  American  family,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Sturges,  who  are, 
I  think,  yet  living  in  Boston,  were  intrusted  with  the 
care  of  her  on  shipboard.  There  was  also  a  Mrs. 
Stevens,  another  American  lady,  on  board,  who  was  a 
very  gay  woman,  and  who  had  some  influence  in  sup 
porting  the  determination  of  Lola  not  to  go  to  the 
Craigies'  on  her  landing  in  London.  But  Mr.  David 
Craigie,  who  was  a  blue  Scotch  Calvinist,  was  there  on 
her  arrival  to  take  her  home.  She  refused  to  ga 


40  Autobiography. 

At  first  he  used  arguments  and  persuasion,  and  find 
ing  that  these  failed,  he  tried  force,  and  then,  of 
course,  there  was  an  explosion  which  soon  settled  the 
matter,  and  convinced  Mr.  David  Craigie  that  he 
might  go  back  to  the  little  dull  town  of  Perth,  as 
soon  as  he  pleased,  without  the  little  grass- widow. 
Now  she  was  left  in  London  sole  mistress  of  her  own 
fate.  She  had,  besides  the  five  thousand  dollar  check 
given  her  by  her  step-father,  between  five  and  six 
thousand  dollars'  worth  of  various  kinds  of  jewelry, 
making  her  capital,  all  counted,  about  ten  thousand  dol 
lars — a  very  considerable  portion  of  which  disappeared 
in  less  than  one  year,  by  a  sort  of  insensible  perspiration, 
which  is  a  disease  very  common  to  the  purses  of  ladies 
who  have  never  been  taught  the  value  of  money.  She 
first  went  to  reside  with  Fanny  Kelly,  a  lady  as 
worthy  in  the  acts  of  her  private  life,  as  she  was 
gifted  in  genius.  The  plan  was  to  make  an  actress  of 
her ;  but  deficient  English  was  a  bar  to  her  immediate 
appearance,  so  it  was  settled  that  she  should  be  a 
danseuse.  A  Spanish  teacher  of  that  art  was  soon 


Autobiography.  41 

procured,  with  whom  she  studied  four  months,  and 
then,  after  a  brief  visit  to  the  Montalvos  in  Spain,  she 
caine  back  to  London,  and  made  her  debut  at  her 
Majesty's  Theatre. 

When  news  of  this  event  reached  her  mother  she 
put  on  mourning  as  though  her  child  was  dead,  and  sent 
out  to  all  her  friends  the  customary  funeral  letters. 

The  debut  was  a  successful  one,  but  the  engage 
ment  was  broken  off  immediately  by  a  difficulty  as  to 
terms  between  her  and  the  director,  and  though  she 
was  then  entirely  out  of  money  she  refused  to  go  on 
for  the  terms  offered. 

Through  the  management  of  influential  friends  an 
opening  was  made  for  her  at  the  Royal  Theatre  at 
Dresden  in  Saxony,  where  she  first  met  the  celebrated 
pianist,  Franz  Liszt,  who  was  then  creating  such  a 
furore  in  Dresden,  that  when  he  dropped  his  pocket- 
handkerchief  it  was  seized  by  the  ladies  and  torn  into 
rags,  which  they  divided  among  themselves — each 
being  but  too  happy  to  get  so  much  as  a  rag  which 
had  belonged  to  the  great  artist. 


42  Autobiography. 

The  furore  created  by  Lola  Montez's  appearance  at 
the  theatre  in  Dresden  was  quite  as  great  among  the 
gentlemen  as  was  Liszt's  among  the  ladies.  She  was 
invited  by  the  king  and  queen  to  visit  them  at  their 
summer  palace,  and  when  she  left,  her  Eoyal  patroness, 
the  queen,  who  was  the  sister  to  the  King  of  Bavaria, 
gave  her  a  letter  to  the  Queen  of  Prussia,  another  sister 
to  King  Louis,  which  opened  the  way  for  an  immense 
triumph  at  Berlin.  The  queen  became  her  enthusias 
tic  patron,  and  often  invited  her  to  the  Eoyal  Palace ; 
and  finally  wound  up  her  kind  attentions  by  offering 
to  make  a  match  for  her  and  settle  her  down  in  the 
stagnation  of  matrimony  at  her  court.  But  Lola 
Montez  was  a  giddy  fool,  intoxicated  with  her  success 
as  a  danseuse,  and  caring  not  a  fig  for  all  the  wealth 
and  position  there  was  in  the  world. 

It  was  at  this  court  that  an  incident  occurred  which 
caused  not  a  little  laughter  at  the  time.  The  King 
Frederick  William  gave  a  grand  reception  to  the  Em 
peror  of  Russia,  at  which  Lola  Montez  was  invited  to 
dance,  and  during  the  entertainment  of  the  evening 


Autobiography.  43 

she  became  very  thirsty  and  askeo.  for  some  water — 
and,  on  being  told  that  it  was  then  impossible  for  her 
to  have  any,  as  it  was  a  rule  of  Court  etiquette  that  no 
artists  should  eat  or  drink  in  the  presence  of  Eoyalty, 
she  began  to  storm  not  a  little,  and  flatly  declared  that 
she  would  not  go  on  with  the  dance,  until  she  had 
some  water.  Duke  Michael,  brother  of  the  Emperor 
Nicholas,  on  hearing  of  the  difficulty,  went  to  the  king' 
and  told  him  that  little  Lola  Montez  declared  she  was 
dying  of  thirst  and  insisted  that  she  would  have  some 
water.  Whereupon  the  amiable  king  sent  for  a  gob 
let  of  water,  and  after  putting  it  to  his  own  lips,  pre 
sented  it  to  her  with  his  own  hand,  which  brought 
the  demand  of  Lola  for  something  to  drink  within  the 
rule  of  the  etiquette  of  the  court. 

Prince  Schulkoski,  to  whom  Lola  Montez  recently 
was  almost  married,  was  present  on  that  occasion. 
It  is  one  of  the  romances  of  life  that  after  so  many 
years  he  should,  in  this  far-off  Eepublican  land,  seek 
and  obtain  the  promise  of  the  hand  of  one  who  had 
seen  enough  of  the  vices  of  nobility  to  have  reasona- 


44  Autobiography. 

bly  disenchanted  her  of  all  its  baubles  of  honor.  But 
every  woman  has  a  right  to  be  a  little  foolish  on  that 
subject  of  marriage,  and  Lola  Montez  (I  hope  she  will 
forgive  me  for  telling  family  secrets)  did  engage  her 
self  to  marry  the  Prince  Schulkoski ;  but  alas  for  the 
constancy,  or  inconstancy,  of  human  love,  while  the 
noble  Prince  was  furiously  telegraphing  kisses  three 
times  a  day  to  his  affianced  bride,  he  was  merrily 
travelling  through  the  South  with  a  celebrated  singer, 
putting  his  own  name  and  title  in  his  pocket,  and  con 
veniently  assuming  that  of  the  Prima  Donna,  they 

booking  themselves  as  plain  Mr.  and  Mrs. at  the 

hotels.  This  pleasant  piece  of  news  came  squarely 
and  undeniably  to  the  knowledge  of  Lola  Montez. 
I  leave  you,  who  have  probably  some  general  idea 
of  Lola  Montez,  to  judge  of  what  followed. 

If  the  course  of  true-love  never  did  run  smooth,  it 
is  more  than  probable  that  it  was  not  particularly  so 
when  the  Prince  returned  from  his  musical  journey  to 
the  South. 

But  let  us  return  to  Berlin,  where  we  left  Lola  and 


Autobiography.  45 

the  Prince.  From  Berlin  Lola  went  to  Warsaw,  the 
capital  of  Poland,  and  it  was  in  this  city  that  her 
name  first  became  involved  in  politics.  The  Prince 
Paskewich,  Yiceroy  of  Poland,  an  old  man,  fell 
most  furiously  and  disgracefully  in  love  with  her. 
Old  men  are  never  very  wise  when  in  love,  but  the 
vice-king  was  especially  foolish.  Now  the  director 
of  the  theatre  was  also  Colonel  of  the  Gens-d'armes — • 
a  disgraceful  position  of  itself,  and  rendered  pecu 
liarly  so  by  him,  from  his  having  been  a  complete 
spy  for  the  Eussian  government.  Of  course  the 
Poles  hated  him. 

While  Lola  Montez  was  on  a  visit  to  Madame 
Steinkiller,  the  wife  of  the  principal  banker  of 
Poland,  the  old  viceroy  sent  to  ask  her  presence  at 
the  palace  one  morning  at  eleven  o'clock.  She  was 
assured  by  several  ladies  that  it  would  neither  be 
politic  nor  safe  to  refuse  to  go ;  and  she  did  go  in 
Madame  Steinkiller's  carriage,  and  heard  from  the 
viceroy  a  most  extraordinary  proposition.  He 
offered  her  the  gift  of  a  splendid  country  estate, 


<j.6  Autobiography. 

and  would  load  her  with  diamonds  besides.  The 
poor  old  man  was  a  comic  sight  to  look  upon — unu 
sually  short  in  stature,  and  every  time  he  spoke  he 
threw  his  head  back  and  opened  his  mouth  so  wide 
as  to  expose  the  artificial  gold  roof  of  his  palate.  A 
death's-head  making  love  to  a  lady  could  not  have 
been  a  more  disgusting  or  horrible  sight.  These 
generous  gifts  were  most  respectfully  and  very  decid 
edly  declined.  But  her  refusal  to  make  a  bigger  fool 
of  one  who  was  already  fool  enough,  was  not  well 
received. 

In  those  countries  where  political  tyranny  is  unre 
strained  the  social  and  domestic  tyranny  is  scarcely 
less  absolute. 

The  next  day  his  majesty's  tool,  the  Colonel  of  the 
Q-ens-cFarmes  and  the  director  of  the  theatre,  called  at 
her  hotel  to  urge  the  suit  of  his  master. 

He  began  by  being  persuasive  and  argumentative ; 
and  when  that  availed  nothing,  he  insinuated  threats, 
when  a  grand  row  broke  out,  and  the  madcap  ordered 
him  out  of  her  room. 


Autobiography.  47 

Now  when  Lola  Montez  appeared  that  niglit  at  the 
theatre,  she  was  hissed  by  two  or  three  parties  who 
had  evidently  been  instructed  to  do  so  by  the  director 
himself.  The  same  thing  occurred  the  next  night; 
and  when  it  came  again  on  the  third  night,  Lola 
Montez  in  a  rage  rushed  down  to  the  foot-lights  and 
declared  that  those  hisses  had  been  set  at  her  by  the 
director,  because  she  had  refused  certain  gifts  from  the 
old  prince  his  master.  Then  came  a  tremendous 
shower  of  applause  from  the  audience ;  and  the  old 
princess,  who  was  present,  both  nodded  her  head  and 
clapped  her  hands  to  the  enraged  and  fiery  little 
Lola. 

Here,  then,  was  a  pretty  muss.  An  immense 
crowd  of  Poles,  who  hated  both  the  prince  and 
the  director,  escorted  her  to  her  lodgings.  She 
found  herself  a  hero  without  expecting  it,  and  indeed 
without  intending  it.  In  a  moment  of  rage  she  had 
told  the  whole  truth,  without  stopping  to  count  the 
cost,  and  she  had  unintentionally  set  the  whole  of 
"Warsaw  by  the  ears. 


48  Autobiography. 

The  hatred  which  the  Poles  intensely  felt  towards 
the  government  and  its  agents  found  a  convenient 
opportunity  of  demonstrating  itself,  and  in  less  than 
twenty-four  hours  Warsaw  was  bubbling  and  raging 
with  the  signs  of  an  incipient  revolution.  "When 
Lola  Montez  was  apprised  of  the  fact  that  her  arrest 
was  ordered,  she  barricaded  her  door ;  and  when  the 
police  arrived,  she  sat  behind  it  with  a  pistol  in  her 
hand,  declaring  that  she  would  certainly  shoot  the 
first  man  dead  who  should  break  in.  The  police 
were  frightened,  or  at  least  they  could  not  agree 
among  themselves  who  should  be  the  martyr,  and 
they  went  off  to  inform  their  masters  what  a  tiger 
they  had  to  confront,  and  to  consult  as  to  what 
should  be  done.  In  the  meantime  the  French  consul 
came  forward  and  gallantly  claimed  Lola  Montez  as  a 
French  subject,  which  saved  her  from  immediate 
arrest ;  but  the  order  was  peremptory,  that  she  must 
quit  Warsaw. 

Her  trunks  were  opened  by  the  government,  under 
pretence  that  she  was  suspected  of  carrying  on  a 


Autobiography.  49 

secret  correspondence  with  the  enemies  of  the  govern 
ment. 

There  was  a  letter  of  friendly  introduction  from 
the  Queen  of  Prussia  to  the  Empress  of  Russia  which 
Lola  snatched  from  the  hand  of  the  officer,  tore 
into  a  thousand  pieces,  and  threw  them  at  his  head. 
This  act  confirmed  the  worst  of  their  suspicions,  and 
everybody  in  "Warsaw  who  took  the  part  of  Lola  was 
suspected  of  being  an  enemy  to  the  government. 
Over  three  hundred  arrests  were  made,  and  among 
them  her  good  friend  Steinkiller,  the  banker.  But 
in  the  midst  of  all  the  terrible  excitement,  the  little 
dancing-girl,  who  had  kicked  up  all  the  muss,  slip 
ped  off  to  Russia,  where  she  had  already  been  invited 
personally  by  the  emperor  himself,  while  at  the  court 
of  his  father-in-law,  Frederick  William  of  Prussia. 

Her  arrival  at  the  capital  of  Russia,  notwithstand 
ing  the  terrible  row  in  "Warsaw,  was  welcomed  with 
many  peculiar  and  flattering  attentions,  of  which  it 
would  look  too  much  like  vanity  to  speak  in  detail. 

The  favors  which  she  had  received  from  the  Queens 


50  Autobiography. 

of  Saxony  and  Prussia,  had  opened  the  way  for  the 
kindest  reception,  and  for  many  delicate  attentions 
from  the  truly  amiable  and  worthy  Empress.  And 
Nicholas,  as  well  as  the  ministers  of  his  court,  besides 
their  proverbial  gallantry,  appeared  from  the  first 
anxious  to  test  her  skill  and  sagacity  in  the  routine 
of  secret  diplomacy  and  politics.  A  humorous  cir 
cumstance  happened  one  day  while  she  and  the 
Emperor  and  Count  Benkendorf,  Minister  of  the  In 
terior,  were  in  a  somewhat  private  chat  about  cer 
tain  vexatious  matters  connected  with  Caucasia.  It 
was  suddenly  announced  that  the  superior  officers  of 
the  Caucasian  army  were  without,  desiring  audience. 
The  very  subject  of  the  previous  conversation  ren 
dered  it  desirable  that  Lola  Montez  should  not  be 
seen  in  conference  with  the  Emperor  and  the  Minister 
of  the  Interior ;  and  so,  to  get  her  for  the  moment  out 
of  sight,  she  was  thrust  into  a  closet  and  the  door 
locked.  The  conference  between  the  officers  and  the 
Emperor  was  short  but  very  stormy.  Nicholas  got 
into  a  towering  rage.  It  seemed  to  the  imprisoned 


Autobiography.  51 

Lola  that  there  was  a  whirlwind  outside  ;  and  a  little 
bit  of  womanly  curiosity  to  hear  what  it  was  about, 
joined  with  the  great  difficulty  of  keeping  from 
coughing,  made  her  position  a  strangely  embarrassing 
one.  But  the  worst  of  it  was,  in  the  midst  of  the 
grand  quarrel  the  parties  all  went  out  of  the  room, 
and  forgot  Lola  Montez,  who  was  locked  up  in  the 
closet.  For  a  whole  hour  she  was  kept  in  this  durance 
vile,  reflecting  upon  the  somewhat  confined  and 
cramping  honors  she  was  receiving  from  the  hands 
.of  royalty,  when  the  Emperor,  who  seems  to  have 
come  to  himself  before  Count  Benkendorf  did,  came 
running  back  out  of  breath  and  unlocked  the  door, 
and  not  only  begged  pardon  for  his  forgetfulness,  in 
a  manner  which  only  a  man  of  his  accomplished  ad 
dress  could  do,  but  presented  the  victim  with  a  thou 
sand  roubles  (seven  hundred  and  fifty  dollars),  say 
ing,  laughingly,  "I  have  made  up  my  mind  that 
whenever  I  imprison  any  of  my  subjects  unjustly,  I 
will  pay  them  for  their  time  and  suffering."  And 
Lola  Montez  answered  him,  u  Ah,  sire,  I  am  afraid 


52  Autobiography. 

that  that  rule  will  make  a  poor  man  of  you."  He 
laughed  heartily,  and  replied,  "  Well,  I  am  happy  in 
being  able  to  settle  with  you,  any  how."  Nicholas 
was  as  amiable  and  accomplished  in  private  life,  as 
he  was  great,  stern,  and  inflexible  as  a  monarch.  He 
was  the  strongest  pattern  of  a  monarch  of  this 
age,  and  I  see  no  promise  of  his  equal,  either  in  the 
incumbents  or  the  heir-apparents  of  the  other  thrones 
of  Europe. 

I  have  now  given  as  much  of  the  history  of  Lola 
Montez  up  to  the  time  when  she  went  to  Bavaria,  as 
is  necessary  to  understand  what  kind  of  an  education 
and  preparation  she  had  for  the  varied,  stormy,  and  in 
many  respects  the  unhappy  career  she  has  led  since 
that  time.  We  have  now  followed  this  "eccentric 
woman,"  as  the  newspapers  call  her,  through  the  calm 
and  more  peaceful  portion  of  her  life,  and  what  is  to 
come  is  all  storm,  excitement,  unrest,  and  full  of 
seeming  contradiction,  I  know ;  but  there  is,  or  there 
should  be  a  key  which,  when  it  is  possessed,  explains 
the  difficult  volume  of  our  natures,  as  well  as  there  is 


Autobiography.  53 

to  works  of  science  and  art.  Don't  misunderstand 
me — I  am  not  promising  in  my  next  lecture  to  ex 
plain  that  riddle,  Lola  Montez — that  is  a  thing  I  have 
not  guessed  myself  yet — but  I  shall  faithfully  go  over 
this  wild  episode  of  life  (horse-whippings  and  all) 
without  the  least  disposition  to  shield  my  subject  from 
the  open  eyes  of  the  critical  world.  I  am  fortunate  in 
this,  at  least,  that  the  subject  of  my  lecture  has  no 
thing  to  lose  by  having  the  truth  told  about  her. 
She  can  say  with  one  of  Lord  Byron's  heroes : — 

"  Whate'er  betides  I've  known  the  worst." 


AUTOBIOGRAP  HY 


PART    II. 


AUTOBIOGRAPHY 

PART  II. 


ON  the  evening  of  the  last  lecture,  we  left  Lola  Mon- 
tez  in  St.  Petersburg.  She  had  then  just  imbibed  a 
fondness  for  political  matters — a  thing  that  was  natu 
ral  enough,  for  ever  since  she  left  London  she  had 
spent  her  time  almost  exclusively  in  diplomatic  cir 
cles,  at  the  Courts  of  Saxony,  Prussia,  Poland,  and 
St.  Petersburg.  With  this  fresh  love  of  politics,  she 
went  to  Paris,  and  immediately  on  arriving  there  she 
formed  the  acquaintance  of  the  young  and  gifted 
Dujarrier,  editor  of  La  Presse,  and  a  popular  leader 
of  the  Eepublican  party.  He  was  a  man  of  uncom 
mon  genius,  and  greatly  loved  and  respected  by  all 
3* 


58  Autobiography. 

who  knew  him,  except  those  who  disagreed  with 
him  in  politics,  and  who  dreaded  the  scorching  and 
terrible  power  of  his  pen. 

Duj  airier  spent  almost  every  hour  he  could  spare 
from  his  editorial  duties  with  Lola  Montez,  and  in 
his  society  she  rapidly  ripened  in  politics,  and  be 
came  a  good  and  confirmed  hater  of  tyranny  and 
oppression,  in  whatever  shape  it  came. 

She  soon  became  familiar  with  the  state  of  politics 
throughout  Europe,  and  became  so  enthusiastic  a 
Eepublican,  that  she,  in  her  heart,  almost  sickened 
that  she  had  not  been  made  a  man.  But  while  she 
and  Dujarrier  were  thus  plotting  and  scheming  poli 
tics,  they  both  fell  in  love,  and  were  immediately 
pledged  to  each  other  in  marriage. 

This  was  in  autumn,  and  the  following  spring  the 
marriage  was  to  take  place.  It  was  arranged  that 
Alexander  Dumas,  and  the  celebrated  poet,  Mery, 
should  accompany  them  on  their  marriage  tour 
through  Spain.  But  alas,  the  inscrutable  hand  of 
Providence  had  ordered  it  otherwise !  Dujarrier  was 


Autobiography.  59 

most  wickedly  murdered — for  though,  lie  fell  in  a 
duel,  yet  politics  were  at  the  bottom  of  it,  and  he 
was  drawn  into  it  that  he  might  be  murdered,  and 
put  out  of  the  way  of  a  party  which,  dreaded  hiTn) 
young  as  he  was,  more  than  any  other  man  in 
France.  On  the  morning  of  the  duel,  he  wrote  her 
this  affectionate  note — 


"Mr  DEAR  LOLA:  I  am  going  out  to  fight  with  pistols. 
This  explains  why  I  did  not  come  to  see  you  this  morning.  I 
have  need  of  all  my  calmness.  At  two  o'clock,  all,  all  will  be 
over.  A  thousand  embraces,  my  dear  Lola,  my  good  little  wife, 
whom  I  love  so  much,  and  the  thoughts  of  whom  will  never 
leave  me." 


The  duel  was  fought  in  the  Bois  de  Boulogne,  and 
Dujarrier  was  instantly  killed  by  the  challenger, 
Beauvallon.  After  Lola  Montez  received  Dujarrier's 
note,  she  rushed  out  and  made  every  possible  effort 
to  find  the  parties,  but  it  was  too  late.  She  received 
the  corpse  from  the  carriage,  and  made  such  prepa 
rations,  with  the  help  of  his  friends,  for  the  funeral, 


60  Autobiography. 

as  she  could,  under  the  crushing  load  of  sorrow  and 
despair  which  weighed  upon  her  heart. 

On  the  morning  of  the  duel,  Dujarrier  wrote  his 
will,  leaving  almost  all  his  estate,  amounting  to  over 
one  hundred  thousand  dollars,  to  Lola.  But  she 
settled  the  estate,  and  gave  every  dollar  of  it  to  the 
relations  of  the  deceased,  and  then  quitted  Paris  to 
get  rid  of  the  sights  that  reminded  her  perpetually 
of  the  loss  which  could  never  be  made  up  to  her  in 
this  world. 

Beauvallon  was  arrested  and  tried  for  murder,  and 
Lola  Montez  was  summoned  as  a  witness.  The  fol 
lowing  notice  of  her  testimony  appeared  in  the  public 
press — "  Mile,  de  Montez  in  her  testimony  spoke 
highly  of  the  kind  and  amiable  qualities  of  the 
deceased.  She  had  expressed  a  desire  to  be  intro 
duced  to  Beauvallon  and  to  go  to  the  dinner,  but 
Dujarrier  positively  refused  to  allow  it.  She  received 
the  letter  on  her  return  from  rehearsal,  and  immedi 
ately  took  measures  to  prevent  the  duel,  but  it  was 
too  late."  "  I  was,"  said  she  in  her  testimony,  "  a  bet 


- 


Autobiography.  61 

ter  shot  than  Dujarrier,  and  if  Beauvallon  wanted 
satisfaction  I  would  have  fought  him  myself." 

She  received  the  corpse  from  the  carriage,  and  the 
emotion  which  she  then  experienced  was  still  visible 
in  her  testimony. 

Dujarrier  evidently  entertained  a  warm  affection  for 
her,  as,  in  addition  to  his  farewell  letter,  he  wrote  a 
will,  on  the  morning  of  the  duel,  leaving  her  the  prin 
cipal  part  of  the  estate. 

The  trial  took  place  at  Eouen,  and  among  the  wit 
nesses  was  Alexander  Dumas,  who  was  a  friend  of 
Dujarrier.  When  Dumas  was  asked  what  his  profes 
sion  was,  he  made  this  remarkable  and  characteristic 
reply — "  I  should  call  myself  a  dramatic  poet,  if  I  was 
not  in  the  birth-place  of  Corneille."  This  answer 
touched  the  hearts  of  the  audience,  for  Eouen  was  the 
birth-place  of  the  two  brothers  Pierre  and  Thomas 
Corneille,  and  although  two  hundred  years  have 
elapsed  since  their  birth,  their  memory  is  still  honored 
by  the  inhabitants. 

I  mav  state  that  when  Dumas  learned  that  the  duel 


62  Autobiography. 

was  to  take  place,  lie  sent  his  son  to  practise  Dujarrier 
at  a  shooting-gallery,  where  he  was  able  to  hit  a  mark 
as  large  as  a  man  only  twice  in  fourteen  times,  while 
his  antagonist  was  one  of  the  best  shots  in  Paris. 

At  this  time  Lola  Montez  was  full  of  health  and 
life,  and  in  no  degree  lacking  of  the  courage  to  stand 
in  the  place  of  Dujarrier,  and  could  she  have  done  so 
Beauvallon  might  not  have  come  off  so  well  as  he  did 
with  his  victim,  who  was  entirely  unskilled  with  the 
pistol. 

After  this  melancholy  event,  Lola  Montez  quitted 
Paris  for  Bavaria ;  and  it  is  a  remarkable  fact,  that  a 
somewhat  extended  history  of  her  career  in  Bavaria 
appeared  in  the  American  Law  Journal,  in  1848, 
written,  as  I  am  informed  by  a  distinguished  editor 
of  Philadelphia,  by  an  eminent  Chief  Justice  in  this 
country.  The  article  is  on  the  trial  of  Beauvallon  for 
the  murder  of  Dujarrier,  which  developed  some  pecu 
liarities  of  French  criminal  law ;  and  after  this  legal 
matter  was  disposed  of,  the  author  devoted  several 
pages  to  the  history  of  Lola  Montez,  after  the  death 


Autobiography.  63 

of  Dujarrier,  for  the  facts  of  which,  he  acknowledges 
his  indebtedness  to  "Fraser's  Magazine."  As  I 
intend  to  make  one  or  two  extracts  from  this 
eminent  American  authority,  it  is  proper  for  me  to 
remind  yon  that  the  article  was  written  in  1848,  just 
after  the  events  in  Bavaria,  and  some  three  years 
before  Lola  Montez  came  to  this  country.  The 
author  says : 

"  After  leaving  Paris,  she  next  made  her  appearance  upon  the 
theatre  at  Munich.  Her  association  with  the  literary  and 
political  circles  in  which  Dujarrier  moved  in  Paris,  had  made 
her  familiar  with  general  literature,  and  with  European  politics 
in  particular.  The  beauty  and  rare  powers  of  mind  which  won 
the  attachment  of  her  talented  protector  in  Paris,  made  a  rapid 
conquest  of  the  King  of  Bavaria.  The  masculine  energy  and 
courage  which  prompted  the  effort  to  save  her  friend  by 
hastening  to  the  duelling-ground,  with  the  intention  to  stand  hi 
his  place  in  the  deadly  conflict,  enabled  her  to  acquire  an 
ascendency  over  the  minds  of  others.  The  extent  of  her 
influence  in  Bavaria  is  shown  by  her  success  in  driving  the 
Jesuits  from  power,  remodelling  the  cabinet  of  the  king,  and 
directing  all  the  important  measures  of  his  administration." 

It  is  very  fortunate  for  Lola  Montez  that  she  can 


64  Autobiography. 

appeal  to  such.  high.  American  as  well  as  European 
authority  in  defence  of  her  deeds  in  Bavaria ; 
for  the  tools  of  the  Jesuits  in  the  United  States 
have  cunningly  misrepresented,  and,  indeed,  covered 
with  most  shameful  lies,  this  portion  of  her  history. 
Before  we  can  understand  fully  the  nature  of  the 
part  which  Lola  Montez  performed  in  Bavaria,  we 
must  have  a  correct  understanding  of  the  character  of 
King  Louis,  and  of  the  political  condition  of  Bavaria 
at  the  time  of  her  arrival  there.  I  am  compelled  to 
say  that  a  portion  of  the  press  of  the  United  States 
has  exhibited  an  astonishing  ignorance  of  the  charac 
ter  of  this  king.  They  have  represented  him  as  a 
weak,  foolish,  and  unprincipled  man,  who  sought 
only  his  own  pleasure,  regardless  of  the  good  of  his 
people  and  the  honor  of  his  crown — while  he  was 
precisely  the  reverse  of  all  this.  Not  only  was  he 
one  of  the  most  learned,  enlightened,  and  intellectual 
monarchs  that  Europe  has  had  for  a  whole  century, 
but  he  loved  his  people,  and  was,  in  the  best  political 
sense  of  it,  a  father  to  his  country.  During  his  reign. 


Autobiography.  65 

Munich,  was  raised  from  a  third  class  to  a  first  class 
capital  in  Europe.  No  monarch  of  a  whole  century 
did  so  much  for  the  cause  of  religion  and  human 
liberty  as  he.  Look  at  those  magnificent  edifices 
built  by  him,  which  are  the  admiration  of  all  Europe 
— the  Saint  Ludwig's  church,  the  Aller  Heiligen 
Chapel,  the  Theatiner  Church,  the  Au  Church,  the 
New  Palace,  the  Glyptothek,  with  its  magnificent 
statues ;  the  Pinacothek,  with  its  pictures ;  the 
Odeon,  the  Public  Library,  the  University,  the  Cleri 
cal  School,  the  school  for  the  female  children  of  the 
nobility;  the  Feldherrenhalle,  filled  with  statues ;  the 
Arch  of  Triumph,  the  Euhmshalle,  the  Bazaar,  and 
the  "Walhalla.  Nearly  all  these  superb  structures 
were  erected,  and  the  statues  which  they  contained 
paid  for  with  the  king's  own  money.  And  besides 
these  stupendous  works  of  art,  Louis  set  on  foot  the 
grandest  works  of  internal  improvement.  The 
canal  which  unites  the  Main  with  the  Danube,  and 
which  establishes  an  uninterrupted  line  of  water  com 
munication  from  Rotterdam  to  the  Black  Sea,  owes 


66  Autobiography. 

its  origin  to  him.  It  was  he  who  originated  the  plan 
for  the  National  Kailways  of  Bavaria.  He  was  also 
the  originator  of  the  company  for  running  steamboats 
from  the  highest  navigable  point  of  the  Danube 
above  Donauwerth  down  to  Eensburg.  He  gave  his 
people  the  Landrath  system,  under  which  the  actual 
cultivator  of  the  soil  is  protected  in  comparative 
independence,  while  in  other  portions  of  Germany  he 
is  the  trembling  slave  of  despotism. 

"When  Louk  ascended  the  throne  he  was  possessed 
with  the  most  liberal  ideas,  and  it  was  his  first  inten 
tion  to  admit  his  people  to  a  degree  of  political  free 
dom  which  no  people  of  G-ermany  had  ever  known. 
But  the  revolutionary  movement  of  1830  forced  him 
backwards,  and  an  evil  hour  brought  into  his  coun 
sels  the  most  despotic  and  illiberal  of  the  Jesuits. 
Through  the  influence  of  this  ministry  the  natural 
liberality  of  the  King  was  perpetually  thwarted,  and 
the  government  had  degenerated  into  a  petty  tyranny, 
where  priestly  influence  was  sucking  out  the  lifeblood 
of  the  people.  There  was  a  rigid  censorship  upon 


Autobiography.  67 

the  pre:*s,  and  the  cloven  foot  of  Jesuitism  was  every 
where  apparent,  until  the  king  had  grown  sick  of 
the  government  which  necessity  seemed  to  force  upon 
him. 

Such  was  the  condition  of  things  in  Bavaria,  when 
Lola  Montez  arrived  there.  And  now,  in  this  connex 
ion,  I  hope  I  shall  be  pardoned  for  quoting  once  more 
the  authority  of  the  American  Law  Journal  of  1848 : 
"  She  obtained  permission  to  dance  upon  the  theatre 
at  Munich.  Her  beauty  and  distinguished  manners 
attracted  the  notice  of  the  king.  On  further  acquaint 
ance  with  her,  he  became  enamored  of  her  originality 
of  character,  her  mental  powers,  and  of  those  bold  and 
novel  political  views  which  she  fearlessly  and  frankly 
laid  before  him.  Under  her  counsels,  a  total  revolu 
tion  afterwards  took  place  in  the  Bavarian  system  of 
government.  The  existing  ministry  were  dismissed ; 
new  and  more  liberal  advisers  were  chosen;  the 
power  of  the  Jesuits  was  ended ;  Austrian  influences 
repelled,  and  a  foundation  laid  for  making  Bavaria  an 
independent  member  of  the  great  family  of  nations." 


68  Autobiography. 

These  favorable  results  may  fairly  be  attributed  to  the 
talents,  the  energy,  and  the  influence  of  Lola  Montez, 
who  received,  in  her  promotion  to  the  nobility,  only 
the  usual  reward  of  political  services.  She  became 
Countess  of  Landsfeld,  accompanied  by  an  estate  of 
the  same  name,  with  certain  feudal  privileges  and 
rights  over  some  two  thousand  souls.  Her  income, 
including  a  recent  addition  from  the  king  of  20,000 
florins  per  annum,  was  70,000  florins,  or  little  more 
than  £5,000  per  annum.  After  all  the  noise  there 
has  been  in  the  world  about  Lola  Montez  in  Bavaria, 
she  may  challenge  history  to  produce  an  instance 
where  power  in  the  hands  of  a  woman  was  used  with 
greater  propriety  of  deportment,  and  with  more  unsel 
fish  devotion  to  the  cause  of  human  freedom.  She, 
and  she  alone,  induced  the  king,  not  only  to  abolish 
a  ministry  which  had  stood  for  a  quarter  of  a  century, 
but  she  went  further,  and  induced  him  to  form  his  new 
ministry  from  the  ranks  of  the  people,  without  respect 
to  the  rank  of  nobility.  What  an  immense  step  was 
such  an  example  as  that  to  be  set  in  a  German  state ! 


Autobiography.  69 

And  you,  in  your  peaceful  republican  home,  here  in 
the  United  States,  can  form  no  conception  of  the 
furious  rage  it  set  the  nobility  in,  not  only  in  Bava 
ria,  but  all  over  Grermany.  It  was  at  that  moment 
that  Lola  Montez  became  a  fiend,  a  devil,  a  she-dragon, 
with  more  heads  and  horns  than  that  frightful  beast 
spoken  of  in  Eevelation. 

"When  Lola  Montez  arrived  in  Bavaria  the  nobility 
had  such  power  that  a  tradesman  could  not  possibly 
collect  a  debt  of  one  of  them  by  law,  as  they  could 
only  be  tried  by  their  peers.  And  the  poor  people, 
alas !  had  no  chance  when  they  came  under  the  ban 
of  the  laws,  for  the  nobility  were  alone  their  judges. 
To  remedy  this  enormity  Lola  Montez  had  obtained 
the  pledges  of  the  king  that  he  would  introduce  the 
Code  Napoleon,  and  she  was  having  it  copied  and  put 
in  due  form  when  the  revolution  broke  out  and  drove 
her  from  power.  The  blow  that  she  had  dealt  at  the 
swollen  heads  of  the  patent  nobility  was  severe 
enough,  in  choosing  ministers  from  the  ranks  of  the 
people,  but  this  introduction  of  the  Code  Napoleon 


jo  Autobiography. 

was  looked  upon  as  the  finishing  blow.  The  fat  and 
idle  vagabonds  who  lived  off  the  people's  earnings 
saw  the  last  plank  drifting  from  their  hands.  And 
Lola  Montez  was  the  devil  of  it  all.  The  priests  used 
to  preach  that  there  was  no  longer  a  Virgin  Mary  in 
Munich,  but  that  Venus  had  taken  her  place.  At 
first  they  tried  to  win  her  to  their  side.  A  nobleman 
was  found  who  would  immolate  himself  in  marriage 
with  her ;  then  Austrian  gold  was  tried — old  Metter- 
nich  would  give  her  a  million  if  she  would  quit 
Bavaria — all,  all  was  offered  to  no  purpose.  Then 
came  threats  and  the  plots  for  her  destruction.  She 
was  twice  shot  at,  and  once  poisoned — and  it  was  only 
the  accident  of  too  large  a  dose  that  saved  her.  In 
their  determination  to  be  doubly  sure  they  defeated 
themselves.  And  when  the  revolution  broke  out 
which  drove  Lola  Montez  from  power,  it  was  not  by 
the  superior  tact  and  sagacity  of  her  enemies,  but  it 
was  by  the  brute  force  produced  by  Austrian  gold. 
Gold  was  sowed  in  the  streets  of  Munich,  and  the 
rabble — by  which  I  mean  not  the  people — but  the 


Autobiography.  71 

baser  sort  of  idlers  and  mercenary  hirelings,  became 
the  tools  of  the  Austrian  party. 

They  came  with  cannon,  and  guns,  and  swords, 
with  the  voice  of  ten  thousand  devils,  and  surround 
ed  her  little  castle.  Against  the  entreaties  of  her 
friends,  who  were  with  her,  she  presented  herself 
before  the  infuriated  mob  which  demanded  her  life. 
This  for  the  moment  had  the  effect  of  paralysing 
them,  as  it  must  have  seemed  like  an  act  of  insanity. 
And  it  was  a  little  "  scary,"  as  the  old  man  said  of 
his  unmanageable  horse.  A  thousand  guns  were 
pointed  at  her,  and  a  hundred  fat  and  apoplectic 
voices  fiercely  demanded  that  she  should  cause  the 
repeal  of  what  she  had  done.  In  a  language  of  great 
mildness — for  it  was  no  time  to  scold — she  replied 
that  it  was  impossible  for  her  to  accede  to  such  a 
request.  What  had  been  done  was  honestly  meant 
for  the  good  of  the  people,  and  for  the  honor  of 
Bavaria. 

They  could  take  her  life  if  they  would,  but  that 
would  never  mend  their  cause,  for  her  blood  would 


72  Autobiography. 

never  prove  that  they  were  in  the  right.  Tn  the 
midst  of  this  speech  she  was  dragged  back  within 
the  house,  by  her  friends;  and  soon  after,  on  per 
ceiving  that  preparations  were  making  to  burn  it 
down,  she  yielded  to  the  persuasion  and  entreaties  01 
her  friends,  and  made  her  escape  disguised  as  a 
peasant  girl — she  retreated,  on  foot,  through  the 
snow  (for  it  was  February),  about  seven  miles  into 
the  country.  The  leaders  of  the  Liberal  party  were 
obliged  also  to  escape  into  the  country,  with  their 
families. 

Lola  Montez  was  now  hopelessly  banished  from 
Bavaria,  and  there  was  no  alternative  left  but  to 
make  immediate  retreat  within  the  shelter  of  some 
friendly  state.  That  state  was  Switzerland,  that 
little  Eepublic  that  lies  there,  like  a  majestic  eagle, 
in  the  midst  of  the  monarchical  vultures  and  cor 
morants  of  Europe.  But,  before  Lola  Montez  quitted 
Bavaria  for  ever,  she  went  back,  disguised  in  boy's 
clothes — riding  nights,  and  prudently  lying  still  by 
— and  at  twelve  o'clock  at  night,  she  obtained  a 


Autobiography.  73 

last  audience  with,  the  king.  She  gained  from  the 
king  a  promise  that  he  would  abdicate — she  could 
not  endure  the  thought  that  he  should,  with  his  own 
hand,  destroy  the  reforms  which  he  had  made  at  her 
instigation.  She  pointed  out  to  him  the  impossibility 
of  holding  his  throne,  unless  he  went  down  into  the 
disgraceful  humility  of  recanting  the  great  deeds 
which  he  had  proclaimed  he  had  done  under  a  sense 
of  immediate  justice.  She  convinced  him  that  it 
would  be  best  for  his  own  fame  that  the  backward 
step  should  be  taken  by  his  son,  who  was  an  enemy 
of  the  Liberal  party,  and  who  in  a  short  time,  at 
farthest,  must  ascend  the  throne.  Louis  readily  saw 
the  propriety  of  this  advice,  and  he  faithfully  kept 
the  promise  which  he  then  made,  to  abdicate.  And 
Lola  Montez,  under  the  stars  of  a  midnight  sky, 
went  out  in  her  boy's  disguise,  to  look  upon  the 
turrets  and  spires  of  Munich,  for  the  last  time.  She 
knew  that  if  she  were  discovered  she  would  be  igno- 
miniously  shot — but  she  did  not  think  or  care  much 
about  that.  Her  thoughts  were  on  the  past.  And 


74  Autobiography. 

they  have  never  been  able  to  look  much  to  a  future, 
in  this  world  at  least. 

Ten  years  have  elapsed  since  the  events  with  which 
Lola  Montez  was  connected  in  Bavaria,  and  yet  the 
malice  of  the  diffusive  and  ever  vigilant  Jesuits  is  as 
fresh  and  as  active  as  it  was  the  first  hour  it  assailed 
her.  For  it  is  not  too  much  for  her  to  say,  that  few 
artists,  of  her  profession,  ever  escaped  with  so  little 
censure ;  and  certainly  none  ever  had  the  doors  of 
the  highest  social  respectability  so  universally  open 
to  her,  as  she  had  up  to  the  time  she  went  to  Bavaria. 
And  she  denies  that  there  was  anything  in  her  con 
duct  there  which  ought  to  have  compromised  her 
before  the  world.  Her  enemies  assailed  her,  not  be 
cause  her  deeds  were  bad,  but  because  they  knew  of 
no  other  means  to  destroy  her  influence.  On  this 
point  I  must  quote  again  the  authority  of  the  Ame 
rican  Law  Journal.  Speaking  of  the  king's  confi 
dence  in  Lola  Montez,  it  says : 

"  This  attachment  enabled  her  to  work  out  the  great  political 
changes  which  have  taken  place  in  Bavaria;  and  it  is  but  just 


Autobiography.  75 

to  acknowledge  that  it  is  the  political  use  she  has  made  of  her 
relations  with  the  king,  and  not  the  immorality  of  the  con 
nexion  itself,  that  has  brought  down  upon  her  most  of  the 
vehement  censures  which  the  defeated  party  have  from  time  to 
time  bestowed,  accompanied  by  the  bitterest  calumnies.  The 
moral  indignation  which  her  opponents  displayed  was,  unfor 
tunately,  a  mere  sham.  They  have  not  only  tolerated,  but 
patronized,  a  female  who  formerly  held  a  most  equivocal  posi 
tion  with  the  king,  because  she  made  herself  subservient  to  the 
then  dominant  party.  Let  Lola  Montez  have  credit  for  her 
talents,  her  intelligence,  and  her  support  of  popular  rights.  As 
a  political  character,  she  held,  until  her  retirement  from  Switzer 
land,  an  important  position  in  Bavaria  and  Germany,  besides 
having  agents  and  correspondents  in  various  parts  of  Europe. 
On  foreign  politics  she  has  clear  ideas,  and  has  been  treated  by 
the  political  men  of  the  country  as  a  substantive  power.  She 
always  kept  state  secrets,  and  could  be  consulted  in  safety  in 
cases  in  which  her  original  habits  of  thought  rendered  her  of 
service.  Acting  under  her  advice,  the  king  had  pledged  him 
self  to  a  course  of  steady  improvement  in  the  political  freedom 
of  the  people.  Although  she  wielded  so  much  power,  it  is 
alleged  that  she  never  used  it  for  the  promotion  of  unworthy 
persons,  or,  as  other  favorites  have  done,  for  corrupt  purposes ; 
and  there  is  reason  to  believe  that  political  feeling  influenced 
her  course,  not  sordid  considerations." 


To  the  above  statement  of   the  American  Law 


76  Autobiography. 

Journal,  I  will  add  that  Lola  Montez  could  theu 
easily  have  been  the  richest  woman  that  ever  lived, 
had  she  preferred  her  own  advantage  to  the  success  of 
political  freedom.  She  willingly  sacrificed  herself  for 
a  principle,  and  lost,  alas  !  that. 

Her  last  hope  for  Bavaria  being  broken,  she  turned 
her  attention  towards  Switzerland,  as  the  nearest 
shelter  from  the  storm  that  was  beating  above  her 
head.  She  had  influenced  the  King  of  Bavaria  to 
withhold  his  assent  to  a  proposition  from  Austria, 
which  had  for  its  object  the  destruction  of  that  little 
Eepublic  of  Switzerland.  If  Republics  are  ungrateful, 
Switzerland  certainly  was  not  so  to  Lola  Montez ;  for 
it  received  her  with  open  arms,  made  her  its  guest, 
and  generously  offered  to  bestow  upon  her  an  establish 
ment  for  life.  It  was  a  great  mistake  that  she  refused 
that  offer,  for  had  she  remained  in  Switzerland,  she 
could  have  preserved  that  potential  power  among 
those  scheming  nations,  spoken  of  in  the  above  quo 
tation  from  the  American  Journal,  and  might  have 
still  further  chastised  the  Jesuit  party  in  Germany. 


Autobiography.  77 

But  she  allowed  this  brilliant  opportunity  to  pass. 
and  went  to  London  to  enter  upon  another  marriage 
experiment,  of  which  nothing  but  sorrow  and  mortifi 
cation  came.  The  time  which  she  afterwards  lived  in 
Paris  was,  however,  pleasantly  and  comfortably  spent. 
Her  house  was  the  resort  of  the  most  gifted  literary 
geniuses  of  Paris,  and  there  she  had  the  honor  and 
happiness  of  entertaining  many  literary  gentlemen 
from  America,  who  were  temporarily  sojourning  in 
the  French  capital. 

The  next  step  of  any  public  note  taken  by  Lola 
Montez  was  her  passage  to  America,  coming  out  in 
the  same  ship  with  Kossuth.  Shattered  in  fortune, 
and  broken  in  health,  she  came  with  curiosity  and 
reviving  hope,  to  the  shores  of  the  New  World ;  this 
stupendous  asylum  of  the  world's  unfortunate,  and 
last  refuge  of  the  victims  of  the  tyranny  and 
wrongs  of  the  Old  "World !  God  grant  that  it  may 
ever  stand  as  it  is  now,  the  noblest  column  of  liberty 
that  was  ever  reared  beneath  the  arch  of  heaven  ! 

Of  Lola  Montez'  career  in  the  United  States  there 


78  Autobiography. 

is  not  much  to  be  said.  On  arriving  in  this  country 
she  found  that  the  same  terrible  power  which  had 
pursued  her  in  Europe,  after  the  blows  she  had  given 
it  in  Germany,  held  even  here  the  means  to  fill  the 
American  press  with  a  thousand  anecdotes  and  rumors 
which  were  entirely  unjust  and  false  in  relation  to  her. 
Among  other  things,  she  had  had  the  honor  of  horse 
whipping  hundreds  of  men  whom  she  never  knew, 
and  never  saw.  But  there  is  one  comfort  in  all  these 
falsehoods,  which  is,  that  these  men  very  likely  would 
have  deserved  horsewhipping,  if  she  had  only  known 
them.  As  a  specimen  of  the  pleasant  things  said 
of  Lola  Montez,  I  am  going  to  quote  you  from  a 
book,  entitled  the  "  Adventures  of  Mrs.  Seacole,"  pub 
lished  last  year  in  London,  and  edited  by  no  less  of  a 
literary  man  than  the  gifted  correspondent  of  the 
London  Times,  W.  H.  Eussell,  Esq.  Mrs.  Seacole  is 
giving  her  adventures  at  Cruces,  between  here  and 
California.  She  says : — "  Occasionally,  some  distin 
guished  passengers  passed  on  the  upward  and  down 
ward  tides  of  rascality  and  ruffianism,  that  swept 


Autobiography.  79 

periodically  through  Cruces.  Came  one  day,  Lola 
Montez,  in  the  full  zenith  of  her  evil  fame,  bound  for 
California,  with  a  strange  suite.  A  good-looking,  bold 
woman,  with  fine,  bad  eyes,  and  a  determined  bearing, 
dressed  ostentatiously  in  perfect  male  attire,  with  shirt- 
collar  turned  down  over  a  velvet  lappelled  coat, 
richly  worked  shirt-front,  black  hat,  French  un 
mentionables,  and  natty  polished  boots  with  spurs. 
She  carried  in  her  hand  a  handsome  riding-whip, 
which  she  could  use  as  well  in  the  streets  of  Cruces  as 
in  the  towns  of  Europe ;  for  an  impertinent  American, 
presuming,  perhaps  not  unnaturally,  upon  her  re 
putation,  laid  hold  jestingly  of  the  tails  of  her  long 
coat,  and,  as  a  lesson,  received  a  cut  across  his 
face  that  must  have  marked  him  for  some  days.  I 
did  not  wait  to  see  the  row  that  followed,  and  was 
glad  when  the  wretched  woman  rode  off  on  the 
following  morning." 

Now,  there  are  several  rather  comical  mistakes  in 
this  complimentary  notice. 

1st.  Lola  Montez  was  never  dressed  off  the  stage 
4* 


8o  Autobiography. 

in  man's  apparel  in  her  whole  life,  except  when  she 
went  back  disguised  to  Bavaria. 

2nd.  Therefore  no  man  could  have  pulled  the  tails 
of  her  coat  at  Cruces. 

3rd.  She  never  had  a  whip  in  her  hand  in  Cruces, 
and  could  not,  therefore,  have  whipped  the  American 
as  described. 

4th.  She  never  was  in  Cruces  in  her  life.  Before 
she  went  to  California  the  new  route  was  opened,  and 
she  passed  many  miles  from  that  place. 

5th.  The  whole  story  is  a  base  fabrication  from 
beginning  to  end.  It  is  as  false  as  Mrs.  Seacole's 
own  name.  Another  funny  thing  is,  that  Mrs. 
Seacole  makes  this  interesting  event  occur  in  1851, 
whereas  Lola  Montez  did  not  go  to  California  till 
1853. 

If  I  were  to  collect  all  similar  falsehoods  which  I 
have  seen  in  papers  or  books  about  Lola  Montez,  they 
would  form  a  mountain  higher  than  Chimborazo. 

But  no  matter  for  these.  Since  Lola  Montez  com 
menced  her  lectures,  she  has  experienced  nothing  but 


Autobiography.  8 1 

kindness  at  the  hands  of  the  entire  respectable  press 
of  the  country.  And  for  this  she  will  carry  in  her 
heart  a  grateful  remembrance,  when  she  is  back  again 
amidst  the  scenes  of  the  Old  World.  And,  indeed, 
as  for  that,  she  will  carry  a  whole  new  world  back 
with  her ;  for  her  heart  and  brain  are  full  of  the  stu 
pendous  strides  which  freedom  has  made  in  this  mag 
nificent  country.  Those  of  you  who  have  not  had 
some  taste  of  the  quality  of  government  in  the  Old 
"World,  can  but  half  relish  your  own  glorious  institu 
tions.  The  pilgrim  from  the  effete  forms  of  Europe, 
must  look  upon  your  great  Republic  with  as  happy 
an  eye  as  the  storm-tossed  and  ship-wrecked  mariner 
looks  upon  the  first  star  that  shines  beneath  the  reced 
ing  tempest.  And  now  suffer  me  to  close  my  lecture 
here  with  the  last  words  of  Childe  Harold's  Pilgri 
mage: 

"  Farewell !  a  word  that  must  be,  and  hath  been — 
A  sound  which  makes  us  linger ;  yet  farewell  1 
Te  1  who  have  traced  the  pilgrim  to  the  scene 
Which  is  his  last,  if  in  your  memories  dwell 


82  Autobiography. 

A  thought  which  once  was  his,  if  on  ye  swell 

A  single  recollection,  not  in  vain 

He  wore  his  sandal-shoon,  and  scallop-shell ; 

Farewell !  with  him  alone  may  rest  the  pain, 

If  such  there  were — with  you  the  moral  of  his  strain. 


BEAUTIFUL  WOMEN. 


Beautiful  Women. 


THE  last  and  most  difficult  office  imposed  on  Psyche 
was  to  descend  to  the  lower  regions  and  bring  back 
a  portion  of  Proserpine's  beauty  in  a  box.  The  too 
inquisitive  goddess,  impelled  by  curiosity  or  perhaps 
by  a  desire  to  add  to  her  own  charms,  raised  the  lid, 
and  behold,  there  issued  forth — a  vapor !  which  was 
all  there  was  of  that  wondrous  beauty. 

In  attempting  to  give  a  definition  of  beauty,  I 
have  painfully  felt  the  force  of  this  classic  parable. 
If  I  settle  upon  a  standard  of  beauty  in  Paris,  I  find 
it  will  not  do  when  I  get  to  Constantinople.  Per 
sonal  qualities  the  most  opposite  imaginable  are  each 
looked  upon  as  beautiful  in  different  countries,  and 
even  by  different  people  of  the  same  country.  That 


86  Beautiful  Women. 

which  is  deformity  at  New  York  may  be  beauty  at 

Pekin.     The  poet  Cowley  says — 

-  * 
"  Beauty,  thou  wild  fantastic  ape, 

Who  dost  in  every  country  change  thy  shape, 

Here  black,  there  brown,  here  tawny,  and  there  white." 

At  one  place  the  sighing  lover  sees  "  Helen"  in  an 
Egyptian  brow.  In  China,  black  teeth,  painted  eye 
lids,  and  plucked  eyebrows  are  beautiful ;  and  should 
a  woman's  feet  be  large  enough  to  walk  upon,  their 
owners  are  looked  upon  as  monsters  of  ugliness. 

The  Liliputian  daine  is  the  beau  ideal  of  beauty  in 
the  eyes  of  a  Northern  gallant ;  while  in  Patagonia 
they  have  a  most  Polyphemus  standard  of  beauty.  I 
have  read  of  nations  where  a  man  makes  no  preten 
sions  to  being  well  favored  without  five  or  six  scars 
in  his  face.  And  this,  which  was  probably  a  mere 
accident  connected  with  valor,  grew  at  last  to  have  so 
entire  a  share  in  the  idea  of  beauty,  that  it  became  a 
custom  to  slash  the  faces  of  infants. 

Said  Voltaire,  "Ask  a  toad  what  is  beauty,  the 
supremely  beautiful,  the  to  kalon,  he  will  answer  you 


Beautiful  Women.  87 

that  it  is  his  female,  with  two  large  round  eyes  pro 
jecting  out  of  its  little  head,  a  broad,  flat  neck, 
yellow  breast,  and  dark  brown  back!"  Ask  a 
Guinea  negro  the  same  question,  and  he  will  point 
you  to  a  greasy  black  skin,  hollow  eyes,  thick 
lips,  and  a  flat  nose,  with  perhaps  an  ingot  of  gold 
in  it. 

With  the  modern  Greeks  and  other  nations  on  the 
shores  of  the  Mediterranean,  corpulency  is  the  perfec 
tion  of  form  in  a  woman  ;  the  very  attributes  which 
disgust  the  western  European,  form  the  highest 
attractions  of  an  Oriental  fair.  It  was  from  the  com 
mon  and  admired  shape  of  his  countrywomen,  that 
Kubens,  in  his  pictures,  delights  in  a  vulgar  and 
almost  odious  plumpness.  He  seems  to  have  no  idea 
of  beauty  under  two  hundred  pounds.  His  very 
Graces  are  all  fat. 

Hair  is  a  beautiful  ornament  of  woman,  but  it  has 
always  been  a  disputed  point  as  to  what  color  it 
shall  be.  I  believe  that  most  people  now-a-days  look 
upon  a  red  head  with  disfavor — but  in  the  times  of 


88  Beautiful  Women. 

Queen  Elizabeth  it  was  in  fashion.  Mary  of  Scot 
land,  though  she  had  exquisite  hair  of  her  own,  wore 
red  fronts  out  of  compliment  to  fashion  and  the  red 
headed  Queen  of  England. 

That  famous  beauty,  Cleopatra,  was  red-haired 
also ;  and  the  Venetian  ladies  to  this  day  counterfeit 
yellow  hair. 

Yellow  hair  has  a  higher  authority  still.  The 
ORDER  OF  THE  GOLDEN  FLEECE,  instituted  by 
Philip,  Duke  of  Burgundy,  was  in  honor  of  a  frail 
beauty  whose  hair  was  yellow. 

So,  ladies  and  gentlemen,  this  thing  of  beauty 
which  I  come  to  talk  about,  has  a  somewhat  migra 
tory  and  fickle  standard  of  its  own.  All  the  lovers 
of  the  world  will  have  their  own  idea  of  the  thing  in 
spite  of  me. 

A  lover  of  Gongora,  for  instance,  sighs  for  lips  an 
inch  thick :  while  a  Chinese  lover  is  mad  in  praise  of 
lips  so  thin,  that  they  are  no  lips  at  all.  In  Cir- 
cassia,  a  straight  nose  is  the  only  nose  of  beauty- 
cross  but  a  mountain  which  separates  it  from 


Beautiful  Women.  89 

Tartary,  and  there  flat  noses,  tawny  skins,  and  eyes 
three  inches  asunder,  are  all  the  fashion. 

But  I  must  stop  this,  lest  I  unsettle  the  faith  of 
many  a  fair  lady  in  the  only  good  which  her  soul 
hankers  after,  and  sweep  away  the  airy  foundations 
on  which  so  many  millions  of  lovers  are  rapturously 
reposing.  I  suspect  they  would  not  thank  me  for 
that.  I  can  remember,  when  I  was  younger  than  I 
am  now,  with  what  sullen,  pouting  kind  of  surprise 
I  read  out  of  Mr.  Hume's  Essays,  that  "there  is 
nothing  in  itself  beautiful  or  deformed,  desirable  or 
hateful ;  but  these  attributes  arise  from  the  pecu 
liar  constitution  and  fabric  of  human  sentiment  and 
affection." 

My  experience  has  since  led  me  to  a  personal 
knowledge  of  the  various  types  of  beauty  in  all 
quarters  of  the  world ;  and  though  I  am  not  pre 
pared  to  argue  the  truth  of  Mr.  Hume's  proposition 
in  its  full  extent,  yet  I  am  free  to  confess  that  I  find 
the  greatest  difficulty  in  sketching  in  my  own  mind  the 
details  of  any  infallible  standard  of  a  beautiful  woman, 


90  Beautiful  Women. 

Canova  was  obliged  to  have  sixty  different  women 
sit  for  his  Venus ;  and  how  shall  we  dare  point  tc 
any  one  woman,  and  say  that  she  is  perfectly  beau 
tiful  ?  When  Zeuxis  drew  his  famous  picture  of  Helen, 
he  modelled  his  portrait  from  the  separate  charms 
of  five  different  virgins. 

But  though  there  is  this  difnculty  in  settling  upon 
a  perfect  standard  of  female  beauty,  there  can  be  no 
doubt  about  its  power  over  the  customs  and  institu 
tions  of  mankind.  The  beauty  of  woman  has  settled 
and  unsettled  the  affairs  of  empires  and  the  fate  of 
republics,  when  diplomacy  and  the  sword  have  proved 
futile.  "Certainly,"  observes  Lucian,  "more  women 
have  obtained  honor  for  their  beauty  than  for  all  other 
virtues  besides."  And  Tasso  has  said  that  "  beauty 
and  grace  are  the  power  and  arms  of  a  woman," 
while  Ariosto  declares  that,  after  every  other  gift  of 
arms  had  been  exhausted  on  man,  there  remained  for 
woman  only  beauty — the  most  victorious  of  the  whole. 
There  is  a  great  and  terrible  testimony  of  the  power 
of  female  beauty  in  the  history  which  Homer  gives  us 


Beautiful  Women.  91 

of  Helen.  When  she  shows  herself  on  the  ramparts 
of  Troy  even  the  aged  Priam  forgets  his  miseries  and 
the  wrongs  of  his  people,  in  rapture  at  her  charms. 

And  afterwards,  when  Menelaus  came,  armed  with 
rage  and  fury,  to  revenge  himself  on  the  lovely  but 
guilty  cause  of  so  much  bloodshed,  his  weapon  fell  in 
her  presence,  and  his  arm  grew  nerveless. 

"  Heavens !  that  a  face  should  thus  bewitch  his  soul, 
And  win  all  that's  great  and  godlike  in  it." 

And  so  another  poet  has  sung : 

"  Fair  tresses  man's  imperial  race  ensnare, 
And  beauty  draws  us  by  a  single  hair." 

But  where  are  we  to  detect  this  especial  source  of 
power  ?  Often  forsooth  in  a  dimple,  sometimes  beneath 
the  shade  of  an  eyelid,  or  perhaps  among  the  tresses 
of  a  little  fantastic  curl ! 

Alas  I  I  am  ashamed  to  think  what  small  things  will 
often  move  the  strongest  and  bravest  of  men.  Many 
times  in  my  life,  in  the  company  of  kings  and  nobles, 


92  Beautiful  Women. 

have  I  been  forced  to  reflect  upon  the  following  words 
of  the  sublime  Milton : — 

"  For  what  admir'st  thou  ?  what  transports  thee  so : 
An  outside  ?    Fair,  no  doubt,  and  worthy  well 
Thy  cherishing,  thy  honoring  and  thy  love, — 
Not  thy  subjection  1" 

I  once  knew  a  nobleman  who  used  to  try  to  make 
himself  wise,  and  to  emancipate  his  heart  from  its 
thraldom  to  a  celebrated  beauty  of  the  court,  by  con 
tinually  repeating  to  himself, — "but  it  is  short  lived," 
— "  it  won't  last,"—"  it  won't  last." 

Ah,  me!  that  is  too  true — it  won't  last.  Beauty 
has  its  date,  and  it  is  the  penalty  of  nature  that  girls 
must  fade  and  become  wizened  as  their  grandmothers 
have  done  before  them. 

The  old  abbey  and  the  aged  oak  are  more  venera 
ble  in  their  decay  ;  and  many  are  the  charms  around 
us,  both  of  art  and  nature,  that  may  still  linger 
and  please.  The  breaking  wave  is  most  graceful  at 
the  moment  of  its  dissolution ;  the  sun  when  setting 
is  still  glorious  and  beautiful,  and  though  the  longest 


Beautiful  Women.  93 

day  must  have  its  evening,  yet  is  the  evening  as  beau 
tiful  as  the  morning — the  light  deserts  us,  but  it  is  to 
visit  us  again ;  the  rose  retains  after  charms  for  the 
sense,  and  though  it  fall  into  decay,  it  renews  its  glo 
ries  at  the  approach  of  another  spring. 

But  for  woman  there  is  no  second  May !  To  each 
belongs  her  little  day,  and  Time,  that  gives  new  white 
ness  to  the  swan,  gives  it  not  unto  woman !  The 
winner  of  a  hundred  hearts,  in  the  very  bud  of  her 
beauty,  in  the  morn  and  liquid  dews  of  youth  even, 
cannot  obtain  a  patent  for  her  charms.  "  They  all  do 
fade  as  the  leaf."  While  the  fair  lady  curls  her  hair, 
is  it  not  imperceptibly  growing  grey  ? 

To  borrow  an  Arabian  proverb,  let  her  "  be  light  as 
the  full  moon,"  yet  when  her  eye  is  fullest  of  light,  it 
is  nearest  the  point  where  it  begins  to  fade.  The  fuller 
the  rose  is  blown,  the  sooner  it  is  shed.  When  the 
peach  is  ripest — what  next  ? 

Let  her  head  be  from  Greece,  her  bust  from  Aus 
tria,  her  feet  from  Hindostan,  her  shoulders  from  Italy, 
and  her  hands  and  complexion  from  England — let  her 


94  Beautiful  Women. 

have  the  gait  of  a  Spaniard,  and  the  Venetian  tire- 
let  her,  indeed,  be  another  Helen,  and  have  a  box  of 
beauty  to  repair  her  charms  withal — yet  must  she 
travel  the  si\me  road  where  all  the  withered  leaves  do 
lie! 

But  this  won't  do.  In  vain  shall  I  try  to  preach 
beauty  down.  The  world  has  had  the  sage  reflection, 
and  the  warning,  of  the  pulpits  on  this  subject,  for  I 
know  not  how  many  thousands  of  years,  and  yet  not 
a  feather  has  been  plucked  from  this  bird  of  beauty, 
nor  an  ounce  of  its  potent  sway  destroyed. 

So,  without  further  philosophizing,  we  may  set  our 
selves  fairly  to  the  business  of  this  lecture,  which  is  to 
discuss  the  beauty  of  woman,  together  with  the  means 
of  its  development  and  preservation. 

I  am  impressed  that  some  sketch  of  my  own  obser 
vations  of  the  national  types  of  beautiful  women  will 
be  more  interesting  to  you  than  any  speculation,  or 
theory  on  the  subject,  abstractly  considered.  It  is  not 
so  interesting  to  listen  to  a  theory  of  beautiful  women, 
as  to  look  at  a  beautiful  woman. 


Beautiful  Women.  95 

As  a  general  thing  you  have  to  look  into  the  ranks 
of  the  nobility  for  the  most  beautiful  women  of 
Europe.  And  on  the  whole  I  must  give  the  pre- 
ference  to  the  English  nobility  for  the  most  beautiful 
women  I  have  met  with. 

In  calling  to  my  mind  the  many  I  have  seen,  in  the 
course  of  my  life,  I  find  myself  at  once  thinking  of 
the  Duchess  of  Sutherland.  She  was  a  large  and 
magnificent  woman — a  natural  queen.  Her  com 
plexion  was  light,  and  she  might  be  considered  the 
paragon  and  type  of  the  beautiful  aristocracy  of  Eng 
land.  I  next  think  of  Lady  Blessington.  She  was 
a  marvellous  beauty.  Kings  and  Nobles  were  at 
her  feet.  In  Italy  they  called  her  the  goddess.  She 
was  very  voluptuous,  with  a  neck  that  sat  on  her 
shoulders  like  the  most  charming  Greek  models,  a 
wonderfully  beautiful  hand,  and  an  eye  that  when  it 
smiled,  captivated  all  hearts.  She  was  a  far  more 
intellectual  type  of  beauty  than  the  Duchess  of 
Sutherland. 

The  present  Duchess  of  "Wellington  is  a  remarka- 


96  Beautiful  Women. 

bly  beautiful  woman — but  with  little  intellect  or  ani 
mation.  She  is  a  fine  piece  of  sculpture,  and  as  cold 
as  a  piece  of  sculpture.  The  most  famously  beautiful 
family  in  England  is  the  great  Sheridan  family. 
There  were  two  sons  who  were  considered  the  hand 
somest  men  of  their  day.  Then  there  are  three 
daughters,  the  Hon.  Mrs.  Norton,  well  known  on  this 
side  of  the  Atlantic  through  her  poverty  and  her  mis 
fortunes  !  Lady  Blackwood,  and  Lady  Seymour, 
who  was  the  queen  of  beauty  at  the  famous  Eglinton 
Tournament.  These  three  beautiful  Sheridan  sisters 
used  to  be  called  "the  three  Graces  of  England." 
Lady  Seymour  has  dark  blue  eyes,  large,  lustrous, 
and  most  beautiful;  while  Lady  Blackwood  and 
Mrs.  Norton  have  grey  eyes,  but  full  of  fire,  and  soul, 
and  beauty. 

The  women  of  France  are  not  generally  beautiful, 
although  they  are  very  charming.  The  art  of  pleas 
ing,  or  of  refined  and  fascinating  manners,  is  the  first 
study  of  a  French  lady.  But  still  France  is  not  with 
out  its  beautiful  women.  The  Marquise  de  la  Grange 


Beautiful  Women.  97 

was  one  of  the  most  beautiful  women  I  have  met  in 
Paris.  She  had  an  antique  head  and  face,  grave  and 
dignified  in  her  manners  as  Juno,  and  was  altogether 
a  grand  study  for  an  artist. 

Eugenia,  the  Empress,  is,  however,  handsomer  still. 
When  I  last  saw  her  she  was  certainly  one  of  the 
most  vivacious,  witty,  and  sprightly  women  in  Paris. 
All  the  portraits  of  her  which  I  have  seen  in  this 
country  greatly  exaggerate  her  size,  for  Eugenia  is 
really  a  small  woman.  Before  her  marriage  with  the 
Emperor,  and  when  she  was  the  belle  of  Madrid,  she 
evinced  a  great  admiration  for  the  celebrated  pianist 
Louis  Gotschalk,  who  has,  I  believe,  carried  off  the 
hearts  of  half  a  million  of  girls  in  this  country,  without, 
poor  fellow,  being  in  the  slightest  degree  cognizant 
of  the  fact  himself.  Eugenia  caused  him  to  be  received 
into  the  best  and  most  aristocratic  families  of  Madrid. 

The  ladies  of  the  Koyal  family  of  Eussia  are  among 
the  most  beautiful  women  of  Europe.  The  Grand 
Duchess  Olga,  eldest  daughter  of  the  late  Emperor 

Nicholas,  was  so  beautiful  that  even  when  she  appeared 

5 


98  Beautiful  Women. 

in  public  tlie  whole  audience  would  rise  up  and 
receive  her  with,  shouts  of  applause.  Her  younger 
sister  Marie,  wife  of  the  Duke  of  Leuchtenburg,  was 
only  less  beautiful. 

In  Turkey  I  saw  very  few  beautiful  women.  The 
style  of  beauty  there  is  universally  fat.  Their  crite 
rion  of  a  beautiful  woman  is  that  she  ought  to  be  a 
load  for  a  camel.  They  are,  however,  quite  handsome 
when  young,  but  the  habit  of  feeding  them  on  such 
things  as  pounded  rose  leaves  and  butter,  to  make 
them  plump,  soon  destroys  it.  The  lords  of  creation 
in  that  part  of  the  world  treat  women  as  you  would 
geese — stuff  them  to  make  them  fat. 

Through  the  politeness  of  Sir  Stratford  Canning, 
English  Ambassador  at  Constantinople,  who  gave  me 
a  letter  to  a  Greek  lady  residing  in  the  Sultan's  harem, 
I  was  kindly  permitted  to  visit,  as  frequently  as  T 
pleased,  the  inside  of  that  institution,  and  look  upon 
what  they  call  in  Turkey  "  the  lights  of  the  world." 
These  "lights  of  the  world  "  consisted  of  some  five 
hundred  bodies  of  unwieldy  fatness. 


Beautiful  Women.  99 

Your  American  Plato,  Mr.  Kalph  Emerson,  would 
have  exclaimed  on  seeing  such  a  sight, — "What  quan 
tity  I"  With  the  exception  of  a  few  very  young  girls, 
there  was  not  a  beautiful  woman  in  the  whole  vast 
accumulation  of  pounded  rose-leaves  and  butter.  The 
ladies  of  the  harem  gazed  at  my  leanness  with  com 
miserating  wonder ;  and  every  one  wanted  to  remedy 
the  horrible  deformity.  They  paid  many  civil  com 
pliments  to  my  face  and  foot — but  were  positively  dis 
gusted  at  my  diminutive  size.  The  ladies  of  Turkey 
are  allowed  very  little  exercise  lest  they  should  get 
thin. 

The  Circassians  and  Georgians  are  the  most  beauti 
ful  of  the  Eastern  women. 

The  East  Indian  women  are  very  beautiful  from 
eleven  to  fifteen,  but  the  flower  soon  withers,  and  at 
twenty  they  are  old  and  wan.  They  eat  and 
smoke  a  composition  made  of  pounded  tobacco  and 
opium,  called  bhang,  which  is  a  great  destroyer  of 
beauty. 

Italy  has  a  type  of  female  beauty  which  is  marked 


loo  Beautiful  Women. 

and  characteristic — dark,  fiery,  and  bright  as  the  sky 
that  bends  above  them.  A  true  Italian  woman  is  all 
life,  movement,  gesticulation,  and  love.  There  is  no 
life  for  a  woman  in  Italy  without  plenty  of  love  and 
intrigue.  When  old  age  has  put  out  the  fires  of  youth, 
they  form  Platonic  love-affairs,  and  contrive,  as  they 
can,  to  go  over  a  semblance  of  the  old  rounds  of  intri 
gue.  But  the  women  of  Italy  have  this  excuse,  that 
their  own  husbands  pay  them  very  slight  attentions, 
and  the  consequence  is  that  the  wife  must  look 
abroad  for  what  satisfies  her  heart.  Indeed  I  am 
inclined  to  believe  that  this  remark  holds  pretty  true 
in  relation  to  more  countries  than  Italy.  As  a  general 
thing,  husbands  may  thank  themselves  if  their  wives' 
affections  wander  away  from  home.  Fontenelle 
defines  woman  "  a  creature  that  loves."  And  if  no 
violence,  or  neglect,  or  injustice,  is  done  to  her  heart, 
she  naturally  clings  to  the  object  that  first  awakened 
the  latent  fires  of  her  affections.  It  is  a  law  of  her 
moral  being  to  do  so.  It  is  as  natural  for  her  to  keep 
on  loving  that  object,  as  it  is  for  the  flowers  to  give 


Beautiful  Women.  101 

back  their  odors  to  the  sun  and  air.  Not  far  from 
this  philosophical  point  lies  a  mighty  lesson  for  hus 
bands.  Gentlemen,  if  you  please,  if  you  would  have 
your  homes  hold  no  heart  but  yours,  see  to  it  that 
your  own  hearts  are  always  found  at  home. 

The  women  of  Italy  have  mostly  dark  eyes  and 
dark  hair.  But  a  blonde  is  regarded  as  a  miracle  of 
beauty.  Of  such  a  type  was  the  Countess  Guiccioli, 
the  mistress  of  Lord  Byron. 

The  Spanish  women  are  many  of  them  very  beau 
tiful.  But  there  are  two  distinct  and  very  different 
types  of  beauty  in  Spain.  In  the  North  they  are  fair 
and  blond.  In  the  South  they  are  mixed  with  Moor 
ish  blood,  and  are  dark,  have  dark  hair,  with  light 
eyes.  The  aristocratic  Spaniards  are  generally  fair- 
haired. 

In  Germany  I  have  seen  some  very  beautiful 
blond  women,  who  looked  as  fair  and  as  clear  as 
snow-flakes.  I  should  say  that  the  beautiful  women 
of  Germany  are  a  type  between  the  English  and 
French.  Indeed  the  German  women  are  a  remarka- 


1O2  Beautiful  Women. 

ble  type  of  handsome  fine-looking  women,  and  are  the 
very  beau-ideal  of  the  Teutonic  race. 

If  we  go  back  to  the  beginning  of  taste  and  fashion, 
we  shall  find  that,  for  many  an  age,  the  twisted  foliage 
of  trees,  and  the  skins  of  beasts,  were  the  only  gar 
ments  which  clothed  the  human  race.  Decoration 
was  unknown,  excepting  the  wild  flower,  plucked  from 
the  shrub,  the  shell  from  the  beach,  or  the  berry  off 
the  tree.  Nature  had  few  sophistications.  The  lover 
looked  for  no  .other  attraction  in  his  bride  than  the 
peach-bloom  of  her  cheek — the  downcast  softness  of 
her  eye.  In  after  times  when  avarice  ploughed  the 
world,  or  ambition  bestrode  it,  the  various  products 
of  the  loom  and  the  Tyrian  mystery  of  dyes,  all  united 
to  give  embellishment  to  beauty,  and  attraction  to 
woman's  mien.  But  even  at  that  period,  when  the 
east  and  south  laid  their  decorating  riches  at  the  feet 
of  woman,  we  see  by  the  sculptures  yet  remaining,  that 
the  dames  of  Greece — the  then  exemplars  of  the 
world,  were  true  to  the  simple  laws  of  nature. 

The  amply-folding  robe  cast  round  the  form ;  the 


Beautiful  Women.  103 

modest  clasp  and  zone  on  the  bosom ;  the  braided 
hair  or  the  veiled  head — these  were  the  fashions  alike  of 
the  wife  of  a  Phocion  and  the  mistress  of  an  Alcibiades. 

A  chastened  taste  ruled  at  woman's  toilet.  And 
from  that  hour  to  this,  the  forms  and  modes  of  Greece 
have  been  the  models  of  the  poet,  the  sculptor,  and 
the  painter. 

Rome,  queen  of  the  world,  the  proud  dictatress  to 
the  Athenian  and  Spartan  dames,  disdained  not  to 
array  herself  in  their  dignified  attire.  And  the 
statues  of  her  virgins,  her  matrons,  and  her  empresses, 
in  every  portico  of  her  ancient  streets^  show  the  grace 
ful  fashion  of  her  Grecian  provinces. 

It  was  the  irruption  of  the  Goths  and  Vandals  which 
made  it  necessary  for  woman  to  assume  a  more  repul 
sive  garb. 

The  flowing  robe,  the  easy  shape,  the  soft,  unfet 
tered  hair,  gave  place  to  skirts  shortened  for  flight  or 
contest — to  the  hardened  vest,  and  head  buckled  in 
gold  or  silver. 

Thence,  by  a  natural  descent,  came  the  iron  bodice,  the 


104  Beautiful  Women. 

stiff  farthingale,  and  spiral  coiffure  of  the  middle  ages. 
The  courts  of  Charlemagne,  of  the  English  Edwards, 
Henries,  and  Elizabeth,  all  exhibit  the  figures  of 
women  in  a  state  of  siege — such  lines  of  circumvalla- 
tion  and  out-works — such  bulwarks  of  whalebone, 
wood,  and  steel — such  impassable  masses  of  gold,  sil 
ver,  silk,  and  furbelows  met  a  man's  view,  that  before 
he  had  time  to  guess  it  was  a  woman  that  he  saw,  she 
had  passed  from  his  sight ;  and  he  only  formed  a  vague 
wish  on  the  subject,  by  hearing  from  an  interested  fa 
ther  or  brother  that  the  moving  castle  was  a  woman. 
These  preposterous  fashions  disappeared  in  England 
a  short  time  after  the  Eestoration.  They  had  been  a 
little  on  the  wane  during  the  more  classic  reign  of 
Charles  I.,  and  what  the  pencil  of  Yandyke  shows  us, 
in  the  graceful  dress  of  the  Lady  Carlisle  and  Sacha- 
rissa,  was  rendered  yet  more  correspondent  to  the  soft 
undulations  of  nature  in  the  garments  of  the  lovely 
but  frail  beauties  of  the  second  Charles's  court.  But 
as  change  too  often  is  carried  to  extremes,  in  this  case 
the  unzoned  taste  of  the  ladies  thought  no  freedom  too 


Beautiful  Women.  105 

free,  and  their  vestments  were  gradually  unloosed  of 
the  brace,  until  another  touch  would  have  exposed 
the  wearer  to  no  thicker  covering  than  the  ambient 
air. 

The  matron  reign  of  Anne,  in  some  measure, 
corrected  this.  But  it  was  not  till  the  accession 
of  the  House  of  Brunswick  that  it  was  finally 
exploded,  and  gave  way,  by  degrees,  to  the  ancient 
mode  of  female  fortification,  by  introducing  the  Pari 
sian  fashion  of  hoops,  buckram  stays,  waists  to  the 
hips,  and  below  them,  screwed  to  the  circumference  of 
a  wasp,  brocaded  silk  stiff  with  gold,  shoes  with  heels 
so  high  as  to  set  the  wearer  on  her  toes,  and  heads,  for 
quantity  of  false  hair  and  height,  to  out-weigh  and 
perhaps  out-reach  the  tower  of  Babel. 

"When  the  arts  of  sculpture  and  painting,  in  their 
fine  specimens  from  the  chisels  of  Greece  and  the  pen 
cils  of  Italy,  began  to  be  again  studied,  taste  began 
again  to  mould  the  dress  of  the  female  youth,  after 
their  most  graceful  fashion. 

The  healthrdestroying  bodice  was  ]aid  aside  j   th§ 


106  Beautiful  Women. 

brocades  and  whalebone  disappeared,  and  the  easy 
shape  and  flowing  drapery  again  assumed  the  rights 
of  nature  and  of  grace.  The  light  hues  of  auburn, 
raven,  or  golden  tresses,  adorned  the  head  in  their 
native  simplicity,  putting  aside  the  few  powdered  tou 
pees  which  yet  lingered  on  the  brow  of  prejudice  and 
deformity. 

Thus,  for  a  short  time,  did  the  Graces  indeed  pre 
side  at  the  toilet  of  beauty;  but  a  strange  caprice 
soon  dislodged  the  gentle  handmaids.  Here  stands 
affectation  distorting  the  form  into  a  thousand  unnatu 
ral  shapes,  and  there,  ill-taste  loading  it  with  grotesque 
ornaments  (and  mingled  confusedly)  from  Grecian  and 
Eoman  models,  from  Egypt,  China,  Turkey,  and  Hin- 
dostan.  All  nations  are  ransacked  to  equip  a  fine  lady ; 
and  after  all,  while  she  may  strike  a  contemporary  beau 
as  a  fine  lady,  no  son  of  nature  could  possibly  find 
out  that  she  represents  an  elegant  woman. 

In  teaching  a  young  lady  to  dress  elegantly,  we  must 
first  impress  upon  her  mind  that  symmetry  of  figure 
ought  eyer  to  be  accompanied  by  harmony  of  dress, 


Beautiful  Women.  107 

and  that  there  is  a  certain  propriety  in  habiliment, 
adapted  to  form,  complexion,  and  age.  To  preserve 
the  health  of  the  human  form,  is  the  first  object  of 
consideration,  for  without  that  you  can  neither  main 
tain  its  symmetry  nor  improve  its  beauty.  But  the 
foundation  of  a  just  proportion  must  be  laid  in  infancy. 
"As  the  twig  is  bent  the  tree's  inclined."  A  light 
dress,  which  gives  freedom  to  the  functions  of  life,  is 
indispensable  to  an  unobstructed  growth.  If  the 
young  fibres  are  uninterrupted  by  obstacles  of  ttrt, 
they  will  shoot  harmoniously  into  the  form  which 
nature  drew.  The  garb  of  childhood  should  in  all 
respects  be  easy — not  to  impede  its  movements  by 
ligatures  on  the  chest,  the  loins,  the  legs,  or  the  arms. 
By  this  liberty,  we  shall  see  the  muscles  of  the  limbs 
gradually  assume  the  fine  swell  and  insertion  which 
only  unconstrained  exercise  can  produce.  The  chest 
will  sway  gracefully  on  the  firmly  poised  waist,  swell 
ing  in  noble  and  healthy  expanse,  and  the  whole 
figure  will  start  forward  at  the  blooming  age  of  youth, 
and  early  ripen  to  the  maturity  of  beauty. 


io8  Beautiful  Women. 

The  lovely  form  of  woman,  thus  educated,  or  rathci 
thus  left  to  its  natural  growth,  assumes  a  variety  of 
charming  characters.  In  one  youthful  figure,  we  see 
the  lineaments  of  a  wood-nymph,  a  form  slight  and 
elastic  in  all  its  parts.  The  shape, 

"  Small  by  degrees,  and  beautifully  less, 
From  the  soft  bosom  to  tlie  slender  waist !" 

A  foot  as  light  as  that  of  her  whose  flying  step 
scarcely  brushed  the  "unbending  corn,"  and  limbs 
whose  agile  grace  moved  in  harmony  with  the  curves 
of  her  swan-like  neck,  and  the  beams  of  her  spark 
ling  eyes. 

Another  fair  one  appears  with  the  chastened  dignity 
of  a  vestal.  Her  proportions  are  of  a  less  aerial  out 
line.  As  she  draws  near,  we  perceive  that  the  contour 
of  her  figure  is  on  a  broader  and  less  flexible  scale 
than  that  of  her  more  etherial  sister.  Euphrosyne 
speaks  in  one,  Melpomene  in  the  other. 

Between  these  two,  lies  the  whole  range  of  female 
character  in  form;  and  in  proportion  as  the  figure 


Beautiful  Women.  109 

approaches  the  one  extreme  or  the  other,  we  call  it 
grave  or  gay,  majestic  or  graceful.  Not  but  that  the 
same  person  may,  by  a  happy  combination  of  charms, 
unite  all  these  qualities  in  herself.  But  unless  the 
commanding  figure  softens  the  amplitude  of  its  con 
tour  with  a  gentle  elegance,  it  may  possess  a  sort  of 
regal  state,  but  it  will  be  heavy  and  ungraceful ; 
and  on  the  other  hand,  unless  the  slight  and  airy 
form  (full  of  youth  and  animal  spirits)  superadds 
to  these  attractions  the  grace  of  restraining  dignity, 
her  vivacity  will  be  deemed  levity,  and  her  sprightli- 
ness  the  romping  of  a  wild  hoyden.  N6  matter  what 
charms  such  a  one  may  possess,  she  would  never  be 
looked  upon  as  a  lady. 

Young  women,  therefore,  when  they  present  them 
selves  to  the  world,  must  not  implicitly  fashion  their 
demeanors  according  to  the  levelling  and  uniform  rules 
of  the  generality  of  school-governesses  ;  but,  con 
sidering  the  character  of  their  own  figures,  allow  their 
deportment  and  their  dress  to  follow  the  bias  of 
nature. 


no  Beautiful  Women. 

ITiave  already  observed,  that  during  the  period  of 
youth,  different  women  wear  a  variety  of  characters, 
such  as  the  gay,  the  grave,  etc.,  each  of  which  has  a 
style  naturally  its  own  ;  and  even  if  it  is  found  that 
this  loveliest  season  of  life  places  its  subjects  in  vary 
ing  lights,  how  necessary  does  it  seem  that  woman 
should  carry  this  idea  yet  further  by  analogy,  and 
recollect  that  she  has  a  summer  as  well  as  a  spring, 
an  autumn,  and  a  winter.  As  the  aspect  of  the 
earth  alters  with  the  changes  of  the  year,  so  does 
the  appearance  of  woman  adapt  itself  to  the  time 
which  passes  over  her.  Like  the  rose,  she  buds,  she 
blooms,  she  fades,  she  dies. 

When  the  freshness  of  virgin  youth  vanishes — 
when  Mary  passes  her  teens,  and  approaches  her 
thirtieth  year,  she  may  then  consider  her  day  at  the 
meridian ;  but  the  sun  which  shines  so  brightly  on 
her  beauties,  declines  while  it  displays  them.  A  few 
short  years,  and  the  jocund  step,  the  airy  habit,  the 
sportive  manner,  must  all  be  exchanged  for  the 
"faltering  step  and  slow."  Before  this  happens,  it 


Beautiful  Women.  1 1 1 

'" '  *    '•.»•"''-•.    •*•?'.     ••"•  •  "•'-    •     ';>''• 

would  be  well  for  her  to  remember,  that  it  is  wiser 
for  her  to  throw  a  shadow  over  her  yet  unimpaired 
charms,  than  to  hold  them  in  the  light  till  they  are 
seen  to  decay.  As  each  age  has  its  appropriate  style 
of  figure,  it  is  the  business  of  discernment  and  taste 
to  discover  and  maintain  all  the  advantages  of  their 
due  seasons.  Nature  having  maintained  a  harmony 
between  the  figure  of  woman  and  her  years,  it  is 
desirous  that  the  consistency  should  extend  to  her 
deportment,  and  to  the  materials  and  fashion  of  her 
apparel.  For  youth  to  dress  and  appear  like  age, 
is  an  instance  of  bad  taste  seldom  seen.  When 
virgin,  bridal  beauty  arrays  herself  for  conquest, 
we  say  that  she  obeys  an  end  of  her  creation ;  but 
when  the  wrinkled  fair,  the  hoary-headed  matron 
attempts  to  equip  herself  to  awaken  sentiments 
which,  when  the  bloom  on  her  cheek  has  disap 
peared,  her  rouge  can  never  recall,  we  turn  away  in 
sorrow  or  disgust,  and  mentally  exclaim,  Alas, 
Madame!  it  were  better  for  you  to  seek  for  charms 
in  the  mental  and  social  graces  of  Madame  de 


112  Beautiful  Women. 

Sevigne,  than  the  meretricious  arts  of  Ninon  de 
1'Enclos. 

But,  that  in  some  cases  wrinkles  may  be  warded 
off,  and  auburn  tresses  preserve  a  lengthened  fresh 
ness,  may  not  be  denied ;  and  when  nature  prolongs 
the  youth  of  a  Helen  or  a  Cleopatra,  it  is  not  for  man 
to  see  her  otherwise.  These,  however,  are  rare 
instances,  and  in  the  minds  of  rational  women,  ought 
rather  to  excite  wonder  than  desire  to  emulate  their 
extended  reign.  But  Saint  Evremond  has  told  us. 
that  "A  woman's  last  sighs  are  for  her  beauty,"  and 
what  this  wit  has  advanced,  my  sex  has  been  but  too 
ready  to  confirm.  A  strange  kind  of  art,  a  sort  of 
sorcery,  is  prescribed  in  the  form  of  cosmetics,  to 
preserve  female  charms  in  perpetual  youth.  Alas, 
how  vain!  Were  these  composts  concocted  in 
Meda's  caldron  itself,  they  would  fail.  The  only 
real  secret  of  preserving  beauty  lies  in  three  simple 
things — temperance,  exercise,  and  cleanliness. 

Temperance  includes  moderation  at  table,  and  in 
the  enjoyment  of  what  the  world  calls  pleasure.  A 


:iful"\V 


Beautiful  Women.  i :  3 

young  beauty,  were  she  as  fair  as  Hebe,  as  elegant  as 
the  goddess  of  love  herself,  would  soon  lose  those 
charms  by  a  course  of  inordinate  eating,  drinking, 
and  late  hours. 

^  No  doubt  that  many  delicate  young  ladies  will  start 
at  this  last  remark,  and  wonder  how  it  can  be  that 
any  well-bred  person  should  think  it  possible  that 
pretty  ladies  could  be  guilty  of  the  two  first  mentioned 
excesses.  But  I  do  not  mean  feasting  like  a  glutton, 
nor  drinking  to  intoxication.  My  objection  is  no 
more  against  the  quantity  than  the  quality  of  the 
dishes  which  constitute  the  usual  repast  of  a  woman 
of  fashion. 

Even  if  we  take  what  is  deemed  a  moderate  break 
fast,  that  of  strong  coffee,  and  hot  bread  and  butter, 
you  have  got  an  agent  most  destructive  to  beauty. 
These  things,  long  indulged  in,  are  sure  to  derange 
the  stomach,  and  by  creating  bilious  disorders,  gradu 
ally  overspread  the  fair  skin  with  a  wan  or  jrellow 
hue.  After  this  meal,  a  long  and  exhausting  fast  not 
unfrequently  succeeds,  from  nine  in  the  morning,  til] 


114  Beautiful  Women. 

five  or  six  in  the  afternoon,  when  dinner  is  served  up, 
and  the  half-famished  beauty  sits  down  to  sate  a  keen 
appetite  with  peppered  soups,  fish,  meats  roasted, 
boiled,  fried,  stewed,  game,  tarts,  pies,  puddings,  ice 
creams,  cakes,  &c.,  &c.  How  must  the  constitution 
suffer  in  digesting  this  melange !  How  does  the 
heated  complexion  bear  witness  to  the  combustion 
within,  and.  when  we  consider  that  the  beverage  she 
takes  to  dilute  this  mass  of  food  and  assuage  the  con 
sequent  fever  of  her  stomach,  is  not  merely  water 
from  the  spring,  but  often  poisonous  drugs  in  the 
name  of  wines,  you  cannot  wonder  that  I  should  warn 
this  inexperienced  creature  against  such  beauty- 
destroying  intemperance.  Let  the  fashionable  lady 
keep  up  this  habit,  and  add  the  other  one  of  late  hours, 
and  her  looking-glass  will  very  shortly  begin  to  warn 
her  of  the  fact  that,  "  we  all  do  fade  as  the  leaf." 
The  firm  texture  of  the  form  gives  way  to  a  flabby 
softness,  the  delicate  porportion  yields  to  scraggy 
leanness  or  shapeless  fat.  The  once  fair  skin  assumes 
a  pallid  rigidity  or  a  bloated  redness,  which  the  vain 


Beautiful  Women.  1 1 5 

but  deluded  creature  would  still  regard  as  the  rose  of 
health  and  beauty ! 

To  repair  these  ravages,  conies  the  aid  of  padding 
to  give  shape  where  there  is  none,  stays  to  compress 
into  form  the  swelling  chaos  of  flesh,  and  paints  of 
all  hues  to  rectify  the  dingy  complexion  ;  but  useless 
are  these  attempts — for,  if  dissipation,  late  hours, 
immoderation,  and  carelessness  have  wrecked  the  love 
liness  of  female  charms,  it  is  not  in  the  power  of' 
Esculapius  himself  to  refit  the  scattered  bark,  or  of 
the  Syrens,  with  all  their  songs  and  wiles,  to  save 
its  battered  sides  from  the  rocks,  and  make  it  ride  the 
sea  in  gallant  trim  again.  The  fair  lady  who  cannot 
so  moderate  her  pursuit  of  pleasure  that  the  feast,  the 
midnight  hours,  the  dance,  shall  not  recur  too  fre 
quently,  must  relinquish  the  hope  of  preserving  her 
charms  till  the  time  of  nature's  own  decay.  After  this 
moderation  in  the  indulgence  of  pleasure,  the  next  spe 
cific  for  the  preservation  of  beauty  which  I  shall  give, 
is  that  of  gentle  and  daily  exercise  in  the  open  air, 
Nature  teaches  us,  in  the  gambols  and  sportiveness  of 


ii6  Beautiful  Women. 

tlie  lower  animals,  that  bodily  exertion  is  necessary 
for  the  growth,  vigor,  and  symmetry  of  the  animal 
frame ;  while  the  too  studious  scholar  and  the  indo 
lent  man  of  luxury  exhibit  in  themselves  the  perni 
cious  consequences  of  the  want  of  exercise.  Many  a 
rich  lady  would  give  thousands  of  dollars  for  that 
full  rounded  arm,  and  that  peach  bloom  on  the  cheek, 
possessed  by  her  kitchen-maid ;  well,  might  she  not 
have  had  both,  by  the  same  amount  of  exercise  and 
simple  living  ? 

Cleanliness  is  the  last  receipt  which  I  shall  give  for 
the  preservation  of  beauty.  It  is  an  indispensable 
thing.  It  maintains  the  limbs  in  their  pliancy,  the 
skin  in  its  softness,  the  complexion  in  its  lustre,  and 
the  whole  frame  in  its  fairest  light.  The  frequent  use 
of  the  tepid  bath  is  not  more  grateful  to  the  senses, 
than  it  is  salutary  to  health  and  beauty.  It  is  by 
such  ablutions  that  accidental  corporeal  impurities  are 
thrown  off,  cutaneous  obstructions  removed,  and  while 
the  surface  of  the  body  is  preserved  in  its  original 
brightness,  many  threatening,  and  beauty-destroying 


Beautiful  Women.  117 

disorders  are  prevented.  This  delightful  oriental 
fashion  has  for  many  years  been  growing  into  common 
use  with  well  conditioned  people  all  over  the  world ; 
especially  on  the  continent  of  Europe  is  this  the  case. 
From  the  Villas  of  Italy  to  the  Chateaux  of  France, 
from  the  palaces  of  the  Muscovite  to  the  Castles  of 
Germany,  we  everywhere  find  the  marble  bath  under 
the  vaulted  portico  or  the  sheltering  shade.  Every 
house  and  every  gentleman  of  almost  every  nation 
except  England  and  America,  possesses  one  of  these 
genial  friends  of  health  and  beauty.  But  every  beau 
tiful  woman  may  be  certain  that  she  cannot  preserve 
the  brightness  of  her  charms  without  a  frequent  resort 
to  this  beautifying  agent.  She  should  make  the  bath 
as  indispensable  an  article  in  her  house  as  her  looking- 
glass. 

•  • ' •         '•>«*.•.  *?".         •  '  -'  * 

"  This  is  the  purest  exercise  of  health, 

The  sweet  refresher  of  the  Summer  heatfl; 
Even  from  the  body's  purity  the  mind 
Receives  a  secret  sympathetic  aid." 

Besides  these  rational  and  natural  means  of  develop- 


ii8  Beautiful  Women. 

ing  and  preserving  the  charms  of  woman,  there  are 
undoubtedly  many  more  artificial  devices,  by  which  a 
fair  lady  may  keep  up  and  show  off  her  attractions 
to  great  advantage. 

During  my  residence  at  Paris,  bathing  in  milk  was 
practised  by  every  fashionable  "Beauty  who  could 
possibly  afford  the  expense  of  such  a  luxury.  To 
such  aji  extent  was  this  custom  carried,  that  there 
really  became  a  great  scarcity  of  milk  for  domestic 
purposes,  until  at  length  the  Police  discovered  that 
the  venders  were  in  the  habit  of  buying  back  the 
milk  which  had  been  used  in  the  bath  from  the  ser 
vants,  and  serving  it  over  again  to  their  tea  and 
coffee  drinking  customers.  In  consequence  of  this 
practice,  the  jxrice  of  the  article  was  so  advanced  that 
while  hundreds  of  fashionable  women  were  swimming 
in  milk  every  morning,  thousands  of  families  were 
obliged  to  dispense  with  the  use  of  it  in  their  choco 
late  and  coffee.  . 

But  a  far  less  expensive  and  probably  more  scien 
tific  bath  for  cleansing  and  beautifying  the  body,  is 


Beautiful  Women.  1 1 9 

that  of  tepid  water  and  bran,  which,  is  really  a 
remarkable  softener  and  purifier  of  the  skin. 

The  celebrated  Madame  Yestris  slept  every  night 
with  her  face  plastered  in  a  kind  of  paste  to  drive 
back  the  wrinkles,  and  keep  her  complexion  fresh 
and  fair.  This  notorious  beauty  had  her  white  satin 
boots  sewed  on  her  feet  every  morning,  and  of  course 
they  had  to  be  ripped  off  at  night,  and  the  same  paii 
could  be  worn  but  a  single  day. 

This  lady  rejoiced  in  the  reputation  of  having  the 
handsomest  foot  and  ankle  of  any  woman  in  the 
world. 

It  is  not  an  unfrequent  custom  with  fashionable 
beauties  at  Paris,  to  bind  their  faces  on  going  to  bed 
at  night  with  thin  slices  of  raw  beef,  which  is  said  to 
keep  the  skin  from  wrinkles,  while  it  gives  freshness 
and  brilliancy  to  the  complexion.  But  what  a  sight 
it  would  be  for  the  lover  to  look  upon  the  face  of  his 
beloved  thus  done  into  a  sandwich,  and  bound  up 
with  a  napkin !  But  these  things  are  not  for  lovers 
to  see — they  are  not  even  for  lovers  to  hear ;  and  I 


12O  Beautiful  Women. 

• ) . 

expect  the  gentlemen  to  have  gallantry  enough  not 
to  listen  to  a  single  word  of  the  secrets  I  am  now  dis 
closing*  The  Spanish  women  are  particularly  proud 
of  a  small  foot  and  a  white  hand,  and  to  secure 
this  object,  the  poor  creatures  will  torture  them 
selves  by  wearing  tight  bandages  on  their  feet  in  bed, 
and  sleeping  all  night  with  their  hands  held  up  by 
pulleys,  in  order  to  make  them  bloodless  and  white. 
The  women  of  the  East  beautify  themselves  by 
bathing  and  friction.  The  cosmetic  of  the  Turks 
is  friction.  They  rouge  themselves  a»  little,  and 
paint  their  eyebrows  with  sourma,  and  like  other 
Eastern  women,  the  nails  of  their  hands  and  feet 
with  henna.  Eastern  women  never  wear  shoes  in 
the  house ;  but  water  and  friction  are  the  chief 
beautifiers  in  an  Eastern  lady's  toilet.  One  of  the 
most  famous  cosmetics  known  to  the  fashionable 
beauties  was  the  Creme  de  1'Enclos,  the  mysterious 
components  of  which  were  lemon  juice,  milk,  and 
white  brandy.  But  there  was  a  cosmetic  still  more 
famous  known  to  the  cunning  beauties  of  the  court 


Beautiful  Women.  121 

of  Charles  II.,  which  really  possessed  the  power  of 
calling  the  crimson  stream  of  blood  to  the  exter 
nal  fibres  of  the  face,  and  produced  on  the  cheeks  a 
beautiful  rosy  color  which  was  like  the  bloom  of 
nature  itself.  In  the  time  of  George  L,  it  was  a 
custom  with  the  beauties  of  the  court  to  take  quick 
silver  in  order  to  render  the  skin  white  and  fair.  In 
some  of  the  German  States  to  this  day,  the  women 
are  in  the  habit  of  drinking  the  waters  of  arsenic 
springs  to  keep  them  young-looking  and  beautiful, 
but  when  once  they  begin  this  custom,  they  are 
obliged  to  continue  it  through  life. 

But  I  weary  of  this  subject  of  Cosmetics,  as  every 
woman  of  sense  will  at  last  weary  of  the  use  of  them. 
It  is  a  lesson  which  is  sure  to  come ;  but,  in  the  lives 
of  most  fashionable  ladies,  it  has  small  chance  of  being 
needed  until  that  unmentionable  time,  when  men  will 
cease  to  make  baubles  and  playthings  of  them.  It  takes 
most  women  two-thirds  of  their  lifetime  to  discover, 
that  men  may  be  amused  by,  without  respecting  them ; 

and  every  woman  may  make  up  her  mind  that  to  be 

6 


122  Beautiful  Women. 

really  respected,  site  must  possess  merit,  slie  must  have 
accomplishments  of  mind  and  heart,  and  there  can 
be  no  real  beauty  without  these.  If  the  soul  is 
without  cultivation,  without  refinement,  without 
taste,  without  the  sweetness  of  affection,  not  all 
the  mysteries  of  art  can  make  the  face  beautiful;  and 
on  the  other  hand,  it  is  impossible  to  dim  the  bright 
ness  of  an  elegant  and  polished  mind,  its  radiance 
strikes  through  the  encasements  of  deformity,  and 
asserts  its  sway  over  the  world  of  the  affections. 

It  has  been  my  privilege  to  see  the  most  celebrated 
Beauties  that  shine  in  the  gilded  courts  of  fashion 
throughout  the  world — from  St.  James  to  St.  Peters- 
burgh,  from  Paris  to  India,  and  yet  I  know  of  no  art 
which  can  atone  for  the  defect  of  an  unpolished  mind 
and  an  unlovely  heart.  That  charming  activity  of 
soul,  that  spiritual  energy,  which  gives  animation, 
grace,  and  living  light  to  the  animal  frame,  is,  after  all, 
the  real  source  of  Woman's  Beauty.  It  is  that  which 
gives  eloquence  to  the  language  of  her  eyes,  which 
gives  the  sweetest  expression  to  her  face,  and  lights 


Beautiful  Women.  123 

up  her  whole  personnel  as  if  her  very  body  thought. 
I  never  myself  behold  a  creature  with  such  sweet 
and  spiritual  beauty,  but  I  fall  in  love  with  her  my 
self,  and  only  wish  I  were  a  man  that  I  could  marry 
her. 


GALLANTRY 


Gallantry. 


A  HISTORY  of  the  beginning  of  the  reign  of 
gallantry  would  carry  us  back  to  the  creation  of  the 
world;  for  I  believe  that  about  the  first  thing  that 
man  began  to  do  after  he  was  created,  was  to  make 
love  to  woman. 

The  Jewish  and  Christian  accounts  seem  to  agree 
in  this  matter;  and  as  for  the  Heathen  record,  the 
life  of  even  Jupiter  himself  was  little  else  than  a 
history  of  his  gallantry.  In  the  service  of  the  fair 
sex  he  was  converted  into  a  satyr,  a  shepherd,  a  bull, 
a  swan,  and  a  golden  shower;  and  so  entirely 
devoted  to  the  cause  of  love  was  he,  that  his  wife, 
Juno,  mockingly  calls  him  Cupid's  whirligig. 

Alasl    I  am  much  afraid  that  this  old  heathen 


1 28  Gallantry. 

divinity  has  never  been  wanting  for  millions  of 
disciples,  even  among  the  high  and  noble  of  Christian 
lands.  The  proudest  heroes  and  the  mightiest  kings 
I  have  met  with  have  been  just  about  as  pliant 
"  whirligigs"  to  Cupid  as  was  the  great  thunderer  of 
Olympus ;  and  history  teaches  me  that  my  observa 
tions  are  confirmed  by  the  lives  of  some  of  the 
gravest  philosophers  and  bravest  generals  of  anti 
quity.  If  we  look  to  an  Alcibiades,  a  Demosthenes, 
a  Caesar,  or  an  Alexander,  we  find  that  their  gal 
lantries  form  no  inconsiderable  portion  of  their 
histories. 

But  gallantry,  as  I  propose  to  treat  of  it  in  this 
lecture,  arose  more  particularly  with  the  institution 
of  chivalry,  and  formed,  we  may  say,  the  soul  of  the 
most  noble  and  daring  exploits  of  chivalry  during  its 
brilliant  career.  Indeed  the  eighth  and  ninth  virtues 
of  chivalry  which  every  knight  had  to  swear  to  obey, 
were  to  "Uphold  the  maiden's  right,"  and  "Not  see 
the  widow  wronged." 

In  the  eleventh  century,  it  was  declared  by  the 


Gallantry.  1 29 

celebrated  Council  of  Clermont,  which  authorized  the 
first  crusade,  that  every  person  of  noble  birth,  on 
attaining  twelve  years  of  age,  should  take  a  solemn 
oath  before  the  bishop  of  his  diocese,  to  defend  to  the 
utmost  the  women  of  noble  birth,  both  married  and 
single,  and  to  have  especial  care  of  widows  and 
orphans.  So  that  to  whatever  class  of  duties  the  can 
didate  for  the  honors  of  chivalry  was  attached,  he 
never  forgot  that  he  was  the  squire  of  dames,  or  the 
knight  of  the  fair  ladies. 

Since  the  knights  were  bound  by  oath  to  defend 
woman,  the  principle  was  felt  in  all  its  force  and 
spirit  by  him  who  aspired  to  chivalric  honors.  Love 
was  mixed  in  the  mind  of  the  young  knight  with 
"images  of  war,  and  he  therefore  thought  that  his 
mistress,  like  honor,  could  only  be  gained  through 
difficulties  and  dangers;  and  from  this  feeling  pro 
ceeded  the  wild  romance  of  the  loves  of  knighthood. 
So  the  courage  of  the  knight  of  chivalry  was  chiefly 
inspired  by  the  lady  of  his  affections. 

Women  were  regarded  as  the  highest  incentives  to 
6* 


130  Gallantry. 

valor;  and  I  remember  the  story  of  a  Danish 
champion  who  had  lost  his  chin  and  one  of  his 
cheeks  by  a  single  stroke  of  a  sword,  who  refused  to 
return  to  his  home,  because,  said  he,  "The  Danish 
girls  will  never  willingly  give  me  a  kiss  while  I  have 
such  a  battered  face."  The  knight,  whose  heart  was 
warmed  with  the  true  light  of  chivalry,  never  wished 
that  the  dominion  of  his  mistress  should  be  less  than 
absolute. 

There  was  no  discussion  then  about  "woman's 
rights,"  or  "woman's  influence" — woman  had  what 
ever  her  soul  desired,  and  her  will  was  the  watchword 
for  battle  or  peace.  Love  was  as  marked  a  feature  in 
the  chivalric  character  as  valor ;  and  he  who  under 
stood  how  to  break  a  lance,  and  did  not  understand 
how  to  win  a  lady,  was  held  to  be  but  half  a  man. 
He  fought  to  gain  her  smiles — he  lived  to  be  worthy 
of  her  love.  G-ower,  who  wrote  in  the  days  of 
Edward  III.,  has  thus  summed  up  the  chivalric  devo 
tion  to  woman  : 

"  What  thing  she  bid  me  do,  I  do. 


Gallantry.  131 

And  where  she  bid  me  go,  I  go ; 
And  when  she  likes  to  call,  I  come, 
I  serve,  I  bow,  I  look,  I  loute, 
My  eye  it  folio weth  her  about.1' 

In  those  days  to  be  "a  servant  of  the  ladies"  was 
no  mere  figure  of  the  imagination — and  to  be  in  love 
was  no  idle  pastime ;  but  to  be  profoundly,  furiously, 
almost  ridiculously  in  earnest.  In  the  mind  of  the 
cavalier,  woman  was  a  being  of  mystic  power.  As  in 
the  old  forests  of  Germany,  she  had  been  listened  to 
like  a  spirit  of  the  woods,  melodious,  solemn,  and 
oracular ;  so  when  chivalry  became  an  institution,  the 
same  idea  of  something  supernaturally  beautiful  in 
her  character  threw  a  shadow  over  her  life,  and  she 
was  not  only  loved  but  revered.  And  never  were 
men  more  constant  to  their  fair  ladies  than  in  the 
proudest  days  of  chivalry. 

Fickleness  would  have  been  a  species  of  impiety, 
for  woman  was  not  a  mere  toy  to  be  played  with,  but 
a  divinity  who  was  to  be  worshipped.  And  this  treat 
ment  of  woman  had  its  effect  on  her  character,  and 


132  Gallantry. 

gave  to  her  a  nobility  of  feeling,  a  heroism  of  heart 
which  made  her  the  fit  companion  of  men  of  chival 
rous  deeds.  A  damsel,  on  hearing  that  her  knight 
had  survived  his  honor,  exclaimed,  "I  should  have 
loved  him  better  dead  than  alive !"  A  lady  who  was 
reproached  for  loving  an  ugly  man,  replied,  "  He  is  so 
valiant,  I  have  never  looked  in  his  face."  The  gal 
lantry  of  knighthood  certainly  acted  powerfully  in 
giving  elevation  and  purity  to  the  character  of 
woman. 

We  behold  a  further  illustration  of  this  kind  of 
gallantry  in  the  history  of  Tournaments.  It  was  the 
beauty  of  woman  which  inspired  the  heroic  and 
graceful  achievements  of  the  tournaments.  The 
daring  knight  acquired  almost  superhuman  strength 
when  he  saw  the  lady  of  his  affections  smiling  upon 
his  gallant  skill.  And  certainly  woman  did  perform 
a  great  mission  in  those  days.  Under  her  influence 
the  fierceness  of  war  was  mellowed  into  elegance, 
and  eyen  feudalism  abated  something  of  its  sternness. 
The  ladie?  were  the  supreme  judges  of  tournaments. 


Gallantry.  1 33 

and  if  any  complaint  was  made  against  a  knight,  the;y 
determined  the  case  without  appeal. 

Every  gallant  knight  wore  the  device  of  his  lady 
love  as  his  coat  of  arms,  and  to  gain  her  approbation 
was  the  soul  of  his  noble  daring.  In  the  heat  of  the 
conflict  he  would  call  upon  her  name  as  if  there  were 
magic  in  the  thought  of  her  beauty  to  sustain  his 
strength  and  courage.  Thus  the  air  at  the  tourna 
ments  was  rent  with  the  names  of  fair  ladies,  and 
"On,  valiant  knights  !  fair  eyes  behold  you,"  was  the 
spirit-stirring  cry  of  old  warriors  who  could  no  longer 
join  in  the  conflict  themselves. 

In  those  days  kingdoms  were  lost  and  won,  and 
life  itself  was  thrown  away  like  a  worthless  bauble, 
all  in  the  service  of  the  ladies. 

In  the  days  of  Alphonso  XI.,  King  of  Spain,  in 
the  beginning  of  the  fourteenth  century,  the  gallantry 
of  knighthood  made  it  a  rule,  that  if  any  knight  insti 
tuted  an  action  against  the  daughter  of  a  brother 
knight,  no  lady  or  gentlewoman  should  ever  be  his 
lady-love  or  wife.  If  he  happened,  when  riding  to 


1 34  Gallantry. 

meet  a  lady  or  gentlewoman  of  the  court,  it  was  his 
duty  to  alight  from  his  horse,  and  tender  his  service, 
upon  pain  of  losing  a  month's  pay,  and  the  favor  of 
all  the  dames  and  damsels.  The  same  statute  of  gal 
lantry  decread,  that  he  who  refused  to  perform  any 
service  which  a  fair  lady  commanded,  should  be 
branded  with  the  .jtitle,  "  The  Discourteous  Knight." 

At  the  court  of  the  Scottish  kings,  the  knight  was 
obliged  to  swear:  "  I  shall  defend  the  just  action  and 
quarrel  of  all  the  ladies  of  honor,  of  all  true  and 
friendless  widows,  of  orphans,  and  of  maidens  of 
good  fame." 

Such  was  the  gallantry  of  knighthood.  It  gave 
woman  not  only  love,  but  respect  and  protection. 

In  this  respect  there  was  a  great  resemblance  be 
tween  the  Knights  and  the  Troubadours.  Both 
devoted  themselves  to  the  glory  of  their  ladies — the 
former  as  heroes,  the  latter  as  poets.  The  knight  ser 
ved  his  lady  with  his  sword,  the  troubadour  with  his 
songs.  In  fact,  it  was  the  chivalrous  devotion  to  the 
beauty  of  woman,  that  particularly  manifested  itseli 


Gallantry.  1  fo 

in  the  sudden  and  magical  unfolding  of  that  poesy 
which  received  among  the  Provengals  the  name  of 
" La  gaie  Science"  and  which,  diffusing  its  influence 
over  all  the  intellectual  nations  of  Europe,  gave  birth 
to  a  rich  and  various  literature  of  chivalrous  poetry 
and  love-songs.  "We  find  it  especially  in  the  literature 
of  the  Troubadours.  As  a  specimen  let  me  quote  an 
example  from  the  poetry  of  Gruido  Cavalcanti,  who 
with  a  sort  of  fine  madness  sang  perpetually  of  his 
love  for  a  beautiful  Spanish  girl  of  Tobosa. 

"Who  is  this,  on  whom  all  men  gaze  as  she  approaches;  who 
causeth  the  air  to  tremble  around  her  with  tenderness;  who 
leadeth  love  by  her  side  1  in  whose  presence  men  are  dumb,  and 
can  only  sigh?  Ah  I  Heaven!  what  power  in  every  glance  of 
those  eyes!  She  alone  is  the  lady  of  gentleness — beside  her 
all  others  seem  ungracious  and  unkind.  Who  can  describe  her 
sweetness,  her  loveliness  ?  To  her  every  virtue  bows,  and  beauty 
points  to  her  as  her  own  divinity." 

That,  ladies,  is  the  way  they  used  to  make  love  in 
the  age  of  the  Troubadours.  Love  was  certainly  a 
very  earnest,  and  sometimes  a  very  fearful  thing  in 
those  days. 


136  Gallantry. 

We  may  take  as  an  illustration  the  tragic  fate  of  the 
poet  Cabestaing,  a  troubadour  of  noble  birth,  who  be 
came  enamored  of  the  charms  of  Lady  Marguerita, 
wife  of  Kaimond  of  Castle  Eoussillon.  The  poet 
declared  his  love  in  the  following  strain — 

"  Gay  is  my  song ;  for  the  softest  love  inspires  me  I  0  thou, 
whose  beauty  transports  my  soul,  may  I  be  forsaken,  may  I  be 
cursed  by  love  if  I  give  my  heart  to  another.  Was  my  faith  to 
heaven  equal,  I  should  instantly  be  received  into  paradise  I  1 
have  no  power  to  defend  myself  against  your  charms ;  be  honora 
ble  therefore  and  take  pity  on  me.  Permit,  at  least,  that  I  kiss 
your  gloves ;  I  presume  not  to  ask  any  higher  mark  of  your 
favor." 

To  this  song  the  Lady  Marguerita  replied, 

"  I  swear  to  thee  thou  shalt  never  have  cause  to  change  thy 
opinion.  Never,  no  never  will  I  deceive  thee." 

Through  the  imprudence  of  the  lady,  this  love  be 
came  known  to  her  husband,  Lord  Eaimond,  and  in  a 
passion  of  jealousy  he  formed  a  pretext  to  draw 
Cabestaing  oat  of  the  castle,  where  he  stabbed  him, 
cut  off  his  head,  and  tore  out  his  heart,  which  he  took 


Gallantry.  137 

to  his  cook  with  orders  to  have  it  dressed  in  the  man 
ner  of  venison,  and  then  had  it  served  up  for  his  wife 
to  eat.  After  she  had  partaken  of  the  meal,  he  asked 
if  she  knew  what  she  had  been  eating.  "No,"  says 
she,  "  but  it  is  most  delicious."  "  I  believe  it,"  said 
he,  "  since  it  is  what  you  have  long  delighted  in,"  and 
exhibiting  the  head  of  Cabestaing,  exclaimed ;  "  behold 
him  whose  heart  you  have  just  eaten !"  At  this 
shocking  sight,  at  these  horrible  words,  she  fainted . 
but  soon  recovering  her  senses,  she  cried  out: — "Yes, 
barbarian,  I  have  found  this  meat  so  exquisite,  that 
lest  I  should  lose  the  taste  of  it,  I  will  never  eat  any 
other,"  and  she  instantly  precipitated  herself  from  the 
balcony,  and  was  dashed  to  pieces. 

But  in  the  gallantry  of  the  Troubadours  it  was 
generally  the  opposite  sex  which  suffered  sorrows  and 
death  for  their  love. 

The  author  of  the  Life  of  Petrarch  relates  an 
interesting  story  of  the  unsuccessful  love  of  Richard  de 
Berbesieu,  a  poet  and  Troubadour  of  no  mean  genius, 
who  fell  in  love  with  a  rich  Baroness,  who  was  the 


138  Gallantry. 

wife  of  Geoffroi  de  Tours.  She  received  the  poet's 
professions  with  pride,  as  there  was  nothing  she  wished 
for  so  much  as  to  be  celebrated  by  a  poet  of  his 
genius ;  but  as  he  soon  discovered  that  this  was  her 
only  object  in  encouraging  his  passion,  he  complained 
bitterly  of  her  rigor,  and  finally  quitted  her  for  another 
lady,  who,  after  encouraging  him,  expressed  the  great 
est  disdain  for  his  caprice.  "  Go,"  said  she,  "you  are 
unworthy  of  any  woman's  love.  You  are  the  falsest 
man  in  the  world,  to  abandon  a  lady  so  lovely,  so 
amiable.  Go,  since  you  have  forsaken  her,  you  will 
forsake  any  other." 

The  poet  took  her  advice  and  returned  and  sought 
the  grace  of  Madame  de  Tours  again,  but  she  scornfully 
refused  him,  and  in  the  rage  of  his  disappointment 
he  composed  the  following  invective  against  women : 

"To  seek  for  fidelity  in  women,  is  to  seek  for  holy  things 
among  the  carcasses  of  dead  and  putrid  dogs — to  confide  in 
them  is  the  confidence  of  the  dove  in  the  kite.  If  they  have  no 
children  they  bestow  a  supposed  offspring,  that  they  may  inherit 
the  dowry  which  belongs  only  to  mothers.  What  you  love  the 


Gallantry.  1 39 

most,  their  arts  will  cause  you  to  hate ;  and  when  they  have 
filled  up  the  measure  of  their  iniquity,  they  laugh  at  their  disor 
ders,  and  justify  their  guilt." 

Overwhelmed  with  despair,  our  troubadour  retired 
into  a  wood,  where  he  built  himself  a  cottage,  resolv 
ing  never  more  to  appear  in  the  world  unless  he  could 
be  restored  to  the  favor  of  Madame  de  Tours. 

All  the  knights  of  the  country  were  touched  with 
his  fate.  When  two  years  had  elapsed,  they  came 
and  besought  him  to  abandon  his  retreat,  but  he 
remained  firm  to  his  first  resolution.  At  last,  all  the 
knights  and  ladies  assembled,  and  went  to  bespeak 
Madame  de  Tours  to  have  pity  on  him ;  but  she  answered 
that  she  would  never  grant  this  request  till  a  hundred 
ladies  and  a  hundred  knights,  who  were  truly  in  love, 
came  to  her  with  hands  joined,  and  knees  bent,  to 
solicit  the  pardon  of  Berbesieu.  On  this  condition  she 
promised  to  forgive  him.  This  news  restored  hope  to 
the  poet,  and  he  gave  vent  to  his  grief  in  a  poem 
which  began  with  this  paragraph : 

"  As  an  elephant,  who  is  overthrown,  cannot  be  raised  up  till 


140  Gallantry. 

a  number  of  elephants  rouse  him  by  thek  cries,  so  neither  should 
I  have  ever  been  relieved  from  my  distress,  if  these  loyal  lovers 
had  not  obtained  my  grace,  by  beseeching  it  of  her  who  alone  can 
bestow  felicity." 

The  ladies  and  knights  assembled  according  to  the 
number  prescribed;  they  went  to  intercede  for  this 
unfortunate  lover,  and  they  obtained  for  him  the  par 
don  promised.  But  Madame  de  Tours  died  soon 
after ;  and  her  troubadour  not  being  able  to  live  in  a 
country  which  called  to  his  mind  the  sufferings  he  had 
undergone,  and  the  loss  of  his  beloved  mistress,  with 
drew  into  Spain,  where  he  ended  his  days. 

This  seems  more  like  a  romance  than  a  story  of 
real  life,  but  the  history  of  the  Troubadours  is  full  of 
actual  events  still  more  strange  and  romantic.  The 
student  of  history  will  be  struck  with  the  sincerity 
and  genuine  earnestness  of  the  gallantry  of  those  days. 

I  have  read  with  admiration  the  confession  of  "Wil 
liam  Magret,  a  poet  of  Yiennois,  who  addressed  this 
remarkable  message  to  Peter  II.  who  was  killed  at  the 
battle  of  Muret :  "  Since  God  has  placed  you  in  hea- 


Gallantry.  141 

ven,  be  mindful  of  us  who  are  left  on  earth."  But 
what  has  most  charmed  me  is  the  simple  manner  in 
which  he  describes  his  love:  "I  am  so  distracted 
with  love,  that  being  seated,  I  perceive  not  those  who 
enter,  and  do  not  rise  to  receive  them;  and  I  seek 
for  that  I  hold  in  my  hand.  As  I  believe  in  that  God 
who  was  born  on  Christmas,  I  never  committed  fault 
or  crime  to  the  lady  of  my  love,  except  it  was  to  extin 
guish  the  lights  to  hide  my  confusion  from  her,  and 
lest  she  should  perceive  the  tears  that  roll  down  my 
cheeks,  when  I  contemplated  her  sweetness." 

It  was  not  uncommon  in  those  days  for  the  lover  to 
fast,  and  torture  himself,  and  perform  incredible  feats 
of  self-denial,  to  prove  the  sincerity  of  his  love  for 
his  mistress.  Sometimes  during  the  intense  heat  of 
summer,  they  would  wrap  themselves  in  the  thickest 
and  warmest  clothing  and  run  up  the  steepest  hills, 
walk  bare-foot  over  the  burning  sands,  and  then 
during  the  frosts  of  winter  they  would  clothe  them 
selves  in  the  thinnest  garments,  and  expose  themselves 
to  the  frosts  and  biting  winds,  to  prove  that  "love 


1 42  Gallantry. 

could  suffer  all  things  for  love."  And  sometimes  these 
poor  fanatics  were  frozen  to  death  while  on  these 
pilgrimages  of  love. 

There  can  be  no  doubt  that  gallantry  had,  at  least, 
an  element  of  sincerity  in  it,  in  those  days.  The  deep, 
intense  earnestness  of  their  love-songs  is  sufficient 
proof  of  this.  There  was  something  almost  profane 
in  the  devotion  which  these  Troubadours  exhibited 
to  woman.  Take  for  instance  the  following  extract 
from  Peri  Kogier,  a  troubadour  of  great  poetical 
genius  who  flourished  in  the  twelfth  century — 

"  Without  doubt  God  was  astonished  when  I  consented  to 
separate  myself  from  my  lady :  yes,  God  cannot  but  have  given 
me  much  credit,  for  he  is  well  aware  that  if  I  lost  her,  I  could 
never  again  know  happiness,  and  that  he  himself  possesses 
nothing  that  could  console  me.  Oh !  sweet  friend  I  when  the 
soft  breeze  comes  wafting  from  the  loved  spot  you  inhabit,  it  seems 
to  me  that  I  inhale  the  breath  of  Paradise.  Oh,  if  I  can  but 
enjoy  the  charm  of  your  glances,  I  do  not  aspire  to  any  greater 
favor — I  believe  myself  in  possession  of  God  himself." 

The  object  of  this  profane  adoration  was  the  beauti 
ful  Ermengarde,  the  daughter  of  Yiscount  Emeric  II. 


Gallantry.  143 

of  Narbonne,  who,  though  she  accepted  the  admira 
tion  of  the  poet,  was  obliged  to  send  him  away  from 
her  court,  for  the  protection  of  her  own  reputation. 

It  was  not  an  unfrequent  occurrence  for  these  gal 
lant  knights  of  the  quill  to  fall  in  love  with  fair 
ladies  whom  they  had  never  seen,  and  to  burn  with  a 
flame  for  charms  which  they  had  only  heard  described, 
and  which  they  would  waste  their  lives  in  trying  to 


Thus  Jauffre  Eudel,  having  heard  a  description  of 
the  beauty  of  the  Princess  Melindeusende,  daughter 
of  the  Count  of  Tripoli,  and  the  affianced  bride  of 
Manuel,  Emperor  of  Constantinople,  became  so  ena 
mored  with  the  idea  of  her  charms,  that  he  quitted  his 
native  land,  and  established  himself  near  the  being 
whose  loveliness  he  had  sung  but  never  seen.  But, 
alas  !  his  heated  imagination  was  undermining  his 
health,  and  he  dropped  dead  at  the  very  moment  he 
attained  the  object  of  his  desires,  and  beheld  for  the 
first  time  the  fair  phantom  of  his  dreams. 

But  I  must  close  this  sketch  of  tlfe  gallantry  of  the 


Gallantry. 

Troubadours  with  an  extract  from  William  Montagu  o 
gont,  a  famous  knight  of  Provence,  a  fine  poet,  and  a 
tender  lover.  The  object  of  his  sonnets  was  the 
beautiful  JafFeraude  of  the  castle  of  Lunel : 

"  Love  inspires  the  greatest  actions  1  Love  engages  the  most 
amiable  conduct !  Love  fills  with  joy  1  To  act  fraudulently  in 
love,  is  a  proof  you  have  never  loved.  You  cannot  love,  nor 
ever  ought  to  be  loved,  if  you  ask  anything  of  your  mistress 
which  virtue  condemns.  It  is  not  love  that  seeks  dishonor  of 
virtue.  Love  has  no  will  but  that  of  the  beloved  object,  nor 
seeks  aught  but  what  will  augment  her  glory.  True  lovers  are 
known  by  these  rules ;  he  who  follows  them,  G-od  will  reward ; 
but  the  deceiver  shall  come  to  shame.  Never  did  I  form  a  wish 
that  could  wound  the  heart  of  my  beloved  I" 

There  is  an  instinct  in  every  true  woman's  heart, 
that  teaches  her  that  the  sentiments  of  this  noble 
Troubadour  are  true,  and  every  man  who  scouts  them 
shows  himself  unworthy  of  woman's  confidence. 

"From  the  time  that  gallantry  arose  with  the  insti 
tution  of  Chivalry,  up  to  the  period  to  which  I  have 
now  traced  it  in  the  literature  of  the  Troubadours,  it 
was  a  great  refiner  and  softener  of  manners,  and  it  was 


Gallantry. 

a  great  fnena  to  woman.  It  gave  her  a  character  of 
dignity,  truth,  refinement,  and  genuine  nobility,  which 
she  had  never  before  possessed. 

But  the  good  it  was  destined  to  do  soon  reached  its 
meridian;  and  what  was  born  of  the  rugged  and 
honest  spirit  of  chivalry  soon  degenerated  into  effemi 
nacy,  thence  it  sank  into  mere  voluptuousness,  and 
thence  into  crime. 

"Witness,  for  instance,  the  slough  into  which  gal 
lantry  had  fallen  at  no  later  day  than  the  times  of 
Charles.  Compare  the  poetry  of  Thomas  Carew,  a 
man  of  great  learning,  wit,  and  genius,  attached  to  the 
court  of  this  monarch,  with  the  gallant  poetry  of  the 
Troubadours  of  the  eleventh  and  twelfth  centuries, 
and  it  is  like  descending  from  the  fresh  mountain  air 
into  the  putrid  atmosphere  of  a  charnel-house.  The 
following  verse  from  Carew  is  a  fair  specimen  of  the 
effeminacy  of  the  gallant  poetry  of  that  time : 

"  In  her  fair  clieeks  two  pits  do  lie, 
To  bury  those  slain  by  her  eye ; 
So,  spite  of  death,  this  comforts  me, 
7 


146  Gallantry. 


That  fairly  buried  I  shall  be. 

My  grave  with  rose  and  lily  spread, 

0,  'tis  a  life  to  be  so  dead. 

Come  then  and  kill  me  with  thy  eye, 

For  if  thou  let  me  live,  I  die." 


The  gallant,  who  in  the  days  of  chivalry  was  either 
a  bold  knight,  fighting  for  the  glory  of  his  country 
and  the  honor  of  his  fair  lady,  or  a  scarcely  less  chi 
valrous  Troubadour  singing  her  charms  in  strains 
that  made  the  age  in  love  with  virtue,  has  here 
descended  to  a  false,  intriguing,  and  corrupt  adulator, 
whose  love  is  a  fever,  and  whose  gallantry  is  a  trap 
for  a  woman's  honor. 

Louis  XIV.,  though  he  was  perhaps  the  most 
gallant  monarch  that  ever  lived,  was  still  unlike 
Charles  II. ;  and  his  court,  though  one  of  the  gayest  in 
the  history  of  the  world,  was  unstained  by  many  of 
the  excesses  that  disgraced  that  of  Charles  II.  Louis 
XIY.  was  a  gallant  without  being  a  roue*;  though 
we  are  able  to  say  these  pleasant  things  of  the 
French  king  only  when  we  compare  him  with  the 


Gallantry.  147 

English  Charles.  But  it  may  perhaps  be  passed  to 
the  credit  of  his  self-respect  and  refined  taste,  that  the 
ladies  who  were  his  favorites  were  among  not  only 
the  most  beautiful,  but  the  most  refined  and  we  may 
almost  say  the  best  women  of  France. 

"We  may  refer  to  the  beautiful  and  gentle-minded 
Madame  de  la  Yalli&re,  who  really  loved  the  man,  and 
not  the  sovereign,  in  Louis  XIY.  When  the  death  of 
the  son  she  had  by  that  king  was  announced,  she 
said — "  Alas !  I  have  less  reason  to  be  grieved  for  his 
death  than  for  his  birth." 

Many  years  before  this  accomplished  lady  died,  she 
retired  into  a  convent,  and  while  there  she  wrote  a 
devotional  treatise  entitled  "Keflections  upon  the 
Mercy  of  God."  The  eloquent  Bossuet  preached  a 
sermon  upon  her  taking  the  veil,  at  which  were  pre 
sent  Louis  the  Fourteenth's  queen  and  all  the  court. 
The  text  was  peculiar,  especially  for  Louis's  queen  to 
hear — "  And  he  that  sat  upon  the  throne,  said,  I  will 
renew  all  things." 

A  celebrated  picture  of  the  Magdalen,  painted  by 


]  48  Gallantry. 

Le  Brun  for  the  convent  in  which  Madame  de  la 
Valliere  resided,  was  for  a  long  time  supposed  to  be  a 
portrait  of  this  beautiful  and  sincere  penitent. 

Madame  de  Maintenon,  another  lady  of  Louis  the 
Fourteenth,  was  not  less  charming  and  intellectually 
accomplished.  She  must  have  been  very  beautiful. 
The  Abbe*  de  Choisy  dedicated  his  translation  of  Tho 
mas- A' Kempis  to  her,  with  this  motto  from  the 
Psalms : — 

"  Hear,  my  daughter,  and  see,  and  incline  thine  ear,  and  the 
king  shall  desire  thy  beauty." 

This  gifted  lady  once  made  this  confession  to  her 
niece.  "  I  was  naturally  ambitious.  I  fought  against 
that  passion.  I  really  thought  I  should  be  happy, 
when  that  ambition  was  gratified.  That  infatuation 
lasted  only  three  days."  Her  influence  upon  the 
king  was  always  refining  and  beneficent.  One  day 
she  asked  him  for  some  alms.  "Alas!  Madame," 
replied  the  Prince,  "  what  I  give  in  alms  are  merely 
fresh  burdens  upon  my  people.  The  more  I  give 


Gallantry.  149 

away  the  more  I  must  take  from  them."  "  This,  sire, 
is  true,"  replied  Madame  de  Maintenon,  "but  it  is. 
right  to  ease  the  wants  of  those  whom  your  former 
taxes  to  supply  the  expenses  of  your  wars  and  of 
your  buildings  have  reduced  to  misery.  It  is  truly 
just  that  those  who  have  been  ruined  by  you,  should 
be  supported  by  you." 

This  lady  survived  the  king  several  years,  and  the 
Eegent  Duke  of  Orleans  took  care  that  the  pension 
left  her  by  the  king  should  be  regularly  paid  to  her. 

When  Peter  the  Great  visited  Paris,  he  was  very 
desirous  of  seeing  Madame  de  Maintenon.  She  was 
very  infirm,  and  in  bed  when  he  visited  her.  He 
drew  aside  the  curtains  to  look  at  that  face  which  had 
captivated  her  sovereign.  A  blush  overpowered  her 
pale  and  withered  cheek,  and  the  Czar  retired. 

Such  were  the  ladies  upon  whom  the  gallant  Louis 
XIY.  bestowed  his  love.  If  we  must  regard  them  as 
fallen,  we  are  compelled  to  look  upon  them  as  beau 
tiful  flowers  growing  in  a  morass. 

Francis  the  First,  another  king  of  France,  was  also 


i  Jo  Gallantry. 

a  model  of  gallantry  in  his  way.  Indeed  he  was  an 
accomplished  prince  in  all  respects.  "When,  after 
prodigies  of  valor,  he  lost  the  battle  of  Pa  via,  he  sent 
his  mother,  Louisa  of  Savoy,  the  news  of  his  cap 
tivity  in  a  dignified  and  expressive  sentence  which 
will  ever  be  remembered,  "  Tout  est  perdu,  Madame, 
hormis  Vhonneur" — "All  is  lost,  Madam,  except  honor." 

When  this  accomplished  prince  delivered  up  his 
sword  to  Lannoi,  the  Spanish  general,  he  said,  "  Sir, 
I  deliver  you  the  sword  of  a  monarch,  who  is  entitled 
to  some  distinction,  from  having  with  his  own  hand 
killed  so  many  of  your  soldiers  before  he  surren 
dered  himself,  and  who  is  at  last  a  prisoner,  from  a 
wretched  reverse  of  fortune,  rather  than  from  any 
cowardice." 

This  monarch  was  as  gentle  and  refined  as  a  lover, 
as  he  was  brave  as  a  soldier,  and  great  as  a  king.  It 
was  he  who  declared  that,  "A  court  without  ladies, 
is  like  spring  without  flowers."  And  yet  he  once 
engraved  upon  a  window  at  Eambouillet,  with  a 
diamond,  the  following  verse : 


Gallantry.  151 

"  Lovely  sex,  too  given  to  rage, 
Lovely  sex.  too  prone  to  change ; 
Alas !  what  man  can  trust  your  charms, 
Or  seek  his  safety  in  your  arms." 

The  Spaniards  are  about  the  most  gallant  people 
of  modern  nations.  Indeed,  in  Spain,  there  jet 
lingers  a  remnant  of  the  ancient  feeling  of  real  gal 
lantry. 

Madrid  is  vocal  almost  every  night  in  the  year 
with  the  most  charming  love-songs  chanted  under  the 
windows  of  a  thousand  fair  ladies.  It  sometimes 
occurs  that  two  parties  happen  to  meet  in  honor  of 
the  same  lady,  and  then  a  regular  pitched  battle  is 
quite  likely  to  follow.  A  beautiful  woman  is  sure  to 
be  respected  almost  to  adoration  in  Spain.  Even  the 
common  people  will  greet  her  with  tokens  of  admi 
ration  in  the  street,  and  exclaim,  "Blessed  be  the 
mother  that  gave  birth  to  such  beauty."  I  have  seen 
the  students  throw  down  their  cloaks  in  the  dust  to 
form  a  carpet  for  a  beautiful  woman  to  cross  the 
street  upon ;  and  all  this  from  no  affectation  of  gal- 


1 52  Gallantry. 

lantry,  but  from  a  genuine  and  honest  admiration 
In  this  respect  there  is  a  wide  difference  between  the 
Spanish  and  French.  The  attachment  of  the  sexes, 
which  in  France  is  a  light,  variable  feeling,  is  in 
Spain  a  serious  and  lasting  sentiment.  Similar 
differences  may  be  observed  in  the  mode  in  which 
each  nation  pursues  its  amusements,  such  as  music 
and  dancing,  which  are  favorites  with  both.  Spanish 
music  is  grave  and  tender,  being  in  some  measure  an 
imitation  of  the  ancient  music  of  the  Moors,  improved 
by  lessons  from  the  Italian  school. 

There  is  no  such  thing  as  genuine  gallantry  either 
in  France  or  England.  In  France,  the  relation  between 
the  sexes  is  too  fickle,  variable,  and  insincere,  for  any 
nearer  approach  to  gallantry  than  flirtation  ;  while  in 
England  the  aristocracy,  which  is  the  only  class  in 
that  country  that  could  have  'the  genuine  feeling  of 
gallantry,  are  turned  shop-owners  and  tradesmen. 
The  Smiths  and  Jones's  who  figure  on  the  signboards 
have  the  nobility  standing  behind  them  as  silent 
partners.  The  business  habits  of  the  United  States 


Gallantry.  1 53 

and  the  examples  of  rapid  fortunes  in  this  country, 
have  quite  turned  the  head  of  John  Bull,  and  he  is 
very  fast  becoming  a  sharp,  thrifty,  money -getting 
Yankee.  A  business  and  commercial  people  have  no 
leisure  for  the  cultivation  of  that  feeling  and  romance 
which  is  the  foundation  of  gallantry.  The  activities 
of  human  nature  seek  other  more  practical  and  more 
useful  channels  of  excitement.  Instead  of  devoting 
a  life  to  the  worship  and  service  of  the  fair  ladies, 
they  are  building  telegraphs,  railroads,  steamboats, 
constructing  schemes  of  finance,  and  enlarging  the 
area  of  practical  civilization. 

But  still  this  age  has  a  kind  of  gallantry,  a  sort  of 
devotion  to  the  sex,  which  perhaps  deserves  no 
higher  name  than  flirtation,  and  means,  I  believe, 
generally,  making  a  fool  of  a  woman,  by  attentions 
which  are  hollow,  fickle,  and  too  often  insincere. 

This  modern  gallant,  or  flirt,  is  a  poor  imitation  of 
the  genuine  gallant  of  the  days  of  chivalry.  He  is 
covered  over,  as  with  a  cloak,  with  an  outside  devo- 

tion  to  woman. 

7* 


1 54  Gallantry. 

He  is  made  of  nothing  but  hands  and  feet  to  serve 
her.  His  eye  is  practised  and  quick  to  see  all  her 
wants,  even  before  she  knows  them  herself.  If  she 
drops  her  fan,  he  catches  it  before  it  has  time  to  reach 
the  floor.  If  she  wants  a  glass  of  water,  he  glides 
over  the  carpet  like  a  shadow,  and  places  it  in  her 
hand  even  before  she  has  been  able  to  finish  the  sen 
tence  which  makes  known  her  wishes.  He  is  the  first 
one  to  discover  any  new  or  rare  article  of  her  ap 
parel, — and  does  not  hesitate  to  point  it  out  at  once, 
and  will  declare  that  she  never  appeared  in  anything 
so  becoming,  and  that  she  really  never  looked  so 
charming  before.  And,  ten  to  one,  he  will  whisper 
her  that  he  is  afraid  that  every  woman  present  will 
be  jealous  of  her  charms.  And  all  this,  if  she  is  not 
one  of  the  "  strong-minded,"  or  at  least  if  she  is  not 
well  instructed  in  the  ways  of  the  world,  and  especially 
in  the  ways  of  men,  will  be  successful.  Mary  "Wol- 
stoncraft  exclaims — "  How  many  women  has  the 
cold  unmeaning  intercourse  of  gallantry  rendered 
vain  and  useless !"  Alas,  I  am  ashamed  to  think  of 


Gallantry.  ]  55 

how  many,  and  yet  justice  would  dictate  a  word  of 
apology  for  my  sex,  for  are  we  not  made,  from  our 
cradle  to  our  womanhood,  to  feel  that  beauty  is  our 
sole  capital  to  begin  life  with  ?  What  wonder,  then, 
we  should  listen  approvingly,  and  at  length  affection 
ately,  to  the  one  who  tells  us  that  we  are  rich  in  this  ? 
The  cold  censure  of  the  world  may  fall  heavily  upon 
the  poor  victim  of  delusion  and  flattery,  yet  I  have 
somehow  a  feeling  that  the  eye  of  Omniscience  looks 
down  pityingly  upon  the  errors  consequent  upon  those 
snares  which  this  species  of  gallantry  throws  perpe 
tually  in  the  pathway  of  woman.  And  this  kind  of 
gallantry  is  getting  progressively  falser,  meaner,  and 
more  pernicious,  as  it  comes  down  further  from  the 
age  of  chivalry  that  produced  the  genuine  sentiment. 
Lord  Chesterfield  makes  the  following  shameless  con 
fession.  "  I  will  own  to  you,  under  the  secresy  of 
confession,  that  my  vanity  has  very  often  made  me 
take  great  pains  to  make  many  a  woman  in  love  with 
me  if  I  could,  for  whose  person  I  would  not  have 
given  a  pinch  of  snuff."  There,  ladies,  is  the  con- 


1 56  Gallantry. 

fession  of  the  king  of  modern  gallants,  for  you.  Bui 
then,  that  is  a  game  at  which  the  women  can  play  as 
well  as  the  men,  though  as  a  general  thing  I  am  in 
clined  to  believe  that  the  women  get  the  worst  of  it, 
for  they  have  more  heart  and  natural  sincerity,  and 
are  therefore  more  likely  to  get  wounded. 

But  let  no  woman  deceive  herself  with  the  idea 
that  there  is  any  meaning  or  any  sincerity  in  the 
thousand  sweet  and  pleasant  things,  the  man  of  this 
kind  of  gallantry  breathes  in  her  ear.  The  feigned 
respect  of  this  gallantry  is  a  mere  over-acted  farce. 
Whatever  they  may  say — and  words  are  never  want 
ing  of  course — their  admiration  of  woman  lies  not  in 
their  hearts,  but  in  their  eyes  and  on  their  tongues. 
These  furious  worshippers  of  women  would  scorn 
even  a  Diana  herself,  were  she  a  little  on  the  wane ; 
and  while  professing  themselves  slaves  to  the  whole 
sex,  "  the  beauteous  are  their  prey,  the  rest  their  scorn." 

Oh,  how  they  will  swear  that  they  love  you — love  you 
to  distraction — love  the  very  ground  you  walk  upon — 
dream  of  you  all  night,  and  sigh  for  you  all  day 


Gallantry.  157 

Without  your  love,  existence  has  grown  a  burden 
the  very  sky  above  them  is  in  darkness,  and  every 
flower  on  the  earth  has  withered  and  lost  its  fragrance. 
Your  eyes  alone  are  the  stars  of  their  sky,  your  love 
the  only  solace  of  life. 

Now  is  not  this  very  fine,  ladies  ?  But  then  it  is 
all,  all  deception.  It  is  a  mere  trap  to  catch  the  un 
wary.  The  man  who  truly  loves  you,  never  runs 
on  in  that  style.  In  real  love  there  is  a  diffidence,  a 
natural  modesty,  and  a  profound  and  almost  silent 
respect,  which  never  can  assume  the  bold  and  impu 
dent  language  of  flattery. 

So  I  beg  young  ladies  never  to  have  the  least  fear 
that  a  man  who  makes  love  to  them  after  this  extrava 
gant  fashion,  is  going  to  do  himself  the  least  harm,  if 
they  should  refuse  his  suit.  Be  sure  these  gallants 
have  no  idea  of  dashing  out  their  brains  for  any 
woman.  It  will  be  a  great  deal  for  them  if  they  even 
deign  a  sigh  for  the  ruined  victim  of  their  deception. 
Like  JEneas,  they  will  take  their  siesta  in  comfort, 
though  their  poor  Didos  are  broken-hearted ;  and  like 


1 58  Gallantry. 

another  braggadocio  of  Troy,  they  have  no  gallantry 
even  where  their  object  is  achieved — as  Mr.  Pope 
translates  it : — 

"  No  more  Achilles  draws 
His  conquering  sword  in  any  woman's  cause." 

In  Poland  there  still  lingers,-  as  in  Spain,  a  remnant 
of  the  ancient  feeling  of  gallantry.  But  it  often  ex 
hibits  itself  in  shapes  which  would  surprise  the  busi 
ness-minded  lovers  of  the  United  States.  In  Poland 
I  have  seen  the  shoe  of  a  beautiful  woman  filled  with 
champagne,  and  passed  up  and  down  the  table  for  a 
drinking-cup  for  the  gentlemen.  But  this  compliment 
I  have  never  seen  paid  except  to  a  lady  who  was 
celebrated  for  a  beautiful  foot. 

In  that  country  I  also  witnessed  a  very  marked 
little  piece  of  gallantry.  A  lady  was  performing  a 
short  journey  on  horseback  with  several  gentlemen, 
when  a  heavy  rain  set  in,  and  the  gentlemen  all  took 
off  their  coats  and  pinned  them  together,  so  as  to 
form  a  mantle,  which  completely  covered  her  from 


Gallantry.  1 59 

her  shoulders  to  her  feet,  while  they  rode  for  over  an 
hour  in  their  shirt-sleeves,  through  the  pelting  rain. 

Alas !  poor  Poland.  It  is  sad  to  think  of  so  gal 
lant  and  brave  a  people,  broken  up  and  scattered  to 
the  ends  of  the  earth. 

There  are  at  the  present  time  in  the  United  States, 
<7iany  exiles  from  this  nation,  pursuing  in  silence, 
almost  in  secresy,  all  kinds  of  humble  toil  for  a  main 
tenance;  men  whom  I  once  knew  to  be  among  the 
most  wealthy,  gallant,  and  accomplished  gentlemen 
of  Europe.  But  if  justice  has  not  forsaken  the  earth, 
that  wronged  and  glorious  people  will  one  day  take 
its  place  among  the  nations. 

In  Italy  there  are  hardly  any  remains  of  the  old 
chivalric  spirit  of  gallantry,  and  what  little  there  is, 
is  confined  to  the  ladies  who  become  distinguished  in 
the  field  of  art.  A  beautiful  woman  who  has  genius 
in  any  line  of  art,  will  awaken  at  least  the  external 
show  of  gallantry;  but  all  other  women  in  that 
country,  however  beautiful  they  may  be,  must  be 
with  miserable  imitations  of  it. 


1 60  Gallantry. 

The  late  Emperor  Nicholas  was  one  of  the  most 
gallant  monarchs  in  modern  times,  in  the  new  sense 
of  that. word.  But  there  was  the  real  old  spirit  of 
gallantry  in  his  blood.  His  marriage  with  the  charm 
ing  Princess  of  Prussia  had  an  amusing  piece  of  gal 
lantry  in  it.  It  is  customary,  when  a  monarch  is  to  be 
married,  to  have  the  whole  affair  arranged  by  the  courts 
of  the  marrying  parties.  But  not  so  with  Nicholas. 
He  determined  to  pick  out  his  own  wife,  and  he  went 
rambling  about  among  the  courts  of  Europe  in  search 
of  a  woman  who  had  those  peculiar  personal  charms 
which  could  captivate  his  heart.  At  last  he  found 
such  a  one  in  the  person  of  the  young  and  beautiful 
Princess  of  Prussia.  At  her  father's  court  he  tarried 
long  enough  to  become  well  acquainted  with  her  qua 
lities  of  mind  and  heart ;  and  one  day  at  dinner  he 
rolled  a  small  ring  in  a  piece  of  bread,  and  handed 
it  to  the  princess,  saying  to  her  in  an  under-tone, 
"  If  you  will  accept  my  hand,  put  this  ring  on  your 
finger."  And  that  is  the  way  he  popped  the  ques 
tion.  She  took  no  time  to  deliberate,  in  the  fashion 


Gallantry.  161 

of  cunning  prudes,  but  suffering  her  heart  to  tell  the 
truth,  at  once  and  instantly  put  the  ring  on  her  finger. 
Nicholas  was  one  of  the  finest  looking  men  I  ever 
saw,  and  at  the  time  of  his  marriage,  he  and  his 
spouse  were  considered  the  handsomest  couple  in 
Europe. 

Notwithstanding  the  innumerable  little  gallantries 
of  Nicholas,  he  was  always  kind,  attentive,  and  affec 
tionate  to  his  wife;  and  she  had  the  wisdom  and 
amiability  never  to  annoy  him  with  any  of  the  re 
proaches  of  jealousy. 

In  1830  she  lost  her  beauty  by  a  most  singular 
freak  of  nature,  occasioned  by  a  fright  she  received  at 
the  moment  when  the  Emperor  rushed  into  the  pre 
sence  of  the  infuriated  mob  that  sought  his  life,  and 
commanded  them  to  "down  on  their  knees"  before 
him. 

It  was  after  this  that  Nicholas  fell  in  love  with  that 
young  and  beautiful  Nellydoff,  one  of  the  maids  of 
honor  to  the  Empress.  The  Empress,  though  per 
fectly  aware  of  this  affair,  always  treated  Nellydoff 


1 62  Gallantry. 

with  the  greatest  respect  in  public.  This  love  affair 
was  terminated  only  by  the  death  of  Nicholas ;  but  it 
did  not  prevent  him  from  numerous  other  intrigues. 

But  in  such  affairs  Prince  Paul  Esterhazy  of  Hun 
gary  beat  Nicholas.  He  actually  settled  pensions 
upon  several  hundred  ladies,  all  of  whom  had  been 
his  favorites.  It  was  said  that  his  Highness  was  un 
able  to  count  the  number  of  his  conquests.  When  I 
saw  him  he  was  sixty  years  of  age,  and  I  remember 
him  as  the  most  richly  and  splendidly  dressed  prince 
I  had  ever  seen. 

Ring  Louis,  of  Bavaria,  is  one  of  the  most  gallant 
monarchs,  as  he  is  one  of  the  most  accomplished  men 
of  genius  in  Europe.  The  intelligent  European  in 
this  country  has  had  many  a  hearty  laugh  at  the 
opinion  the  press  of  the  United  States  appears  to 
entertain  of  this  king.  He  is  not  only  one  of  the 
most  refined  and  high-toned  gentlemen  of  the  old 
school  of  manners,  but  he  is  also  one  of  the  most 
learned  men,  and  one  of  the  cleverest  men  of  genius 
in  all  Europe.  To  him  art  owes  more  than  to  any 


Gallantry.  163 

other  monarch,  who  has  ever  lived.  Not  only  is  it 
true  that  some  of  the  most  valuable  discoveries  and 
improvements  in  modern  arts  are  due  to  his  patron 
age,  but  his  greatest  service  has  been  felt  in  the  im 
petus  which  he  has  given  to  the  general  spirit  of  art 
throughout  the  German  States. 

In  Europe,  he  has  long  been  called  the  "artist- 
king."  You  will  find  his  name  referred  to  with  ad 
miration  and  praise,  in  almost  every  volume  of  the 
"  Art-Union  Journal."  In  volume  X.  of  1848,  you 
may  read  this  sentence : — "  Till  now,  history  has  had 
no  monarch  who  protected  and  fostered  the  arts  to 
such  an  extent  as  King  Louis ;  even  the  entire  illus 
trious  house  of  Medici  did  not  produce  in  a  whole 
century,  as  much  as  the  king  alone  in  less  than  a 
fourth  part  of  that  time." 

"When  Louis  voluntarily  descended  from  the  throne, 
he  said : — "  It  took  me  about  an  hour's  consideration 
to  resign  the  crown,  but  it  required  two  days  to  sepa 
rate  me  from  the  idea  of  being  protector  of  the  fine 
arts."  On  the  occasion  of  his  abdication,  the  artists 


164  Gallantry. 

united  in  an  address  to  the  king,  expressive  of  their 
profound  admiration  for  his  genius,  and  of  their  re 
grets  that  art  had  lost  the  patronage  of  a  throne. 

'King  Louis  is  the  author  of  several  volumes  of  poems, 
which  are  evidence  of  his  natural  genius,  and  of  his  re 
fined  and  elaborately  cultivated  tastes.  His  celebrated 
poem  entitled  South,  if  he  had  written  no  others,  would 
have  fixed  his  claim  to  the  right  of  being  considered 
a  poet.  And  it  is  conceded  that  Europe  has  rarely, 
if  ever,  possessed  a  monarch  so  classically  learned  as  he. 

As  a  king,  he  was  great  in  the  arts,  a  friend  of 
peace,  abhorrent  of  war,  and  adverse  to  the  tricks 
and  stratagems  of  diplomacy.  He  was  the  greatest 
and  best  king  that  Bavaria  has  ever  had.  It 
would  take  half  a  million  like  his  son,  the  present 
occupant  of  the  throne,  to  make  one  like  the  old  king 
himself.  There  stands  the  immortal  witness  of  his 
greatness,  in  that  Munich,  which  he  raised  from  a 
third-class  to  a  first-class  capital  among  the  nations  of 
Europe.  But  Louis  had  really  little  admiration  for 
that  bauble,  a  crown.  It  was  the  last  thing  he  took 


Gallantry.  165 

pride  in.  His  manners  and  Ms  social  habits  were 
rather  those  of  a  plain  and  honest  gentleman,  than  of 
a  king.  I  never  knew  him  to  ride  either  in  a  car 
riage  or  on  horseback ;  he  always  went  on  foot,  and 
almost  always  unattended  and  alone.  He  was  always 
simply  and  plainly  dressed ;  in  fact,  he  never  knew 
how  to  dress.  In  the  matter  of  old  coats,  he  beat  one 
of  your  own  most  celebrated  editors.  He  had  an  old 
green  coat  which  he  was  not  a  little  proud  of,  having 
worn  it  eight  years. 

His  manners  and  his  habits  are  more  those  of  a 
scholar  and  a  man  of  genius,  than  a  king.  But  he  is 
for  all  this  one  of  the  most  gallant  men  in  Europe, 
gallant  in  the  best  and  most  poetical  sense  of  the 
word.  He  worships  beauty  like  one  of  the  old  Trou 
badours.  In  fact,  his  gallantry  is  a  part  of  his  enthu 
siastic  love  of  art.  I  have  seen  him  stand  in  the 
street,  in  the  snow  and  ice,  with  his  hat  off,  to  con 
verse  with  a  fair  lady.  If  she  was  really  very  beau 
tiful,  he  would  be  quite  sure  to  have  her  picture 
painted  for  his  gallery. 


1 66  Gallantry. 

It  is  impossible  for  a  coarse,  unpoetical,  and  merely 
animal  nature  to  comprehend  that  fine  adoration 
which  a  genuine  feeling  of  gallantry  inspires  in  the 
breast  of  a  man  for  a  beautiful  woman.  Indeed,  in 
the  philosophy  of  these  lower  natures  there  is  no 
such  thing  as  love  in  the  world — nothing  in  man  or 
woman  to  raise  them  above  the  beast.  What  they 
are  incapable  of  feeling  themselves,  they  find  it  im 
possible  to  comprehend  in  others,  and  hence  the 
vulgar  inuendoes  that  babble  perpetually  from  the 
mouths  of  lust  and  sin.  "What  is  called  "  Platonic 
love,"  is  always  sneered  at  by  those  who  are  inca 
pable  of  the  fine  feeling  themselves.  A  dog  or  an 
ape,  whether  on  two  or  four  legs,  find  it  impossible  to 
imagine  in  others  any  feeling  they  are  incapable  of 
realizing  themselves. 

But  those  who  are  acquainted  with  the  history  of 
the  chivalrous  origin  of  gallantry,  know  that  its  most 
glorious  deeds  and  greatest  sacrifices  were  inspired 
by  a  love  that  was  born  of  the  soul,  more  than  of  the 
senses.  I  have  already  intimated  that  the  U.  S.  is 


Gallantry.  167 

too  much  of  a  mercantile,  too  busy,  and  too  practical 
a  nation,  to  entertain  the  old  spirit  of  gallantry,  which 
requires  leisure,  and  the  cultivation  of  romance ;  but 
when  I  say  this,  I  do  not  mean  that  there  is  not  plenty 
of  courting  in  this  country,  though  love,  like  every 
thing  else,  is  a  business  here ;  that  is  I  mean  that  the 
gentlemen  make  love  in  a  truly  business-like  manner. 
They  will  manage  the  heart  of  a  pretty  woman  as 
easily  as  they  do  the  stocks  on  change,  and  the  panics 
which  they  create  in  the  social  markets  beat  even  the 
revolutions  and  breakdowns  in  the  regions  of  finance. 
I  believe  that  the  American  is  regarded  a  dull  fellow 
who  cannot  win  the  heart  of  a  lady,  make  a  thousand 
dollars,  and  establish  a  new  bank,  with  the  prospec 
tive  capital  of  three  millions,  before  breakfast.  And 
it  may  not  unfrequently  happen  that  he  will  lose  his 
mistress,  his  money,  and  his  bank  before  supper  of 
the  same  day, 

But  for  all  this  I  believe  there  is  a  great  deal  of  genu 
ine  truth  and  honest  love  of  woman,  among  the  lords 
of  creation  in  the  U.  S.,  and  it  is  none  the  less  honor- 


i68  Gallantry. 

able  to  woman  if  it  refuses  to  adorn  itself  with  the 
artificial  embellishments  of  gallantry.  It  is  not  a  whit 
the  less  honest,  either,  for  being  of  a  somewhat  Davy 
Crockett  style.  Love  in  this  country  will  adive  the 
deepest,  and  come  up  the  dryest,"  of  any  country  on 
earth,  and  it  is,  therefore,  quite  as  brave,  honest,  and 
sincere  a  love,  as  is  found  anywhere  else ;  though  it 
often  clothes  itself  in  the  language  of  extravagance  and 
exaggeration.  "What  I  mean  is  illustrated  by  a  letter 
which  is  still  to  be  seen  (or  was  a  few  years  ago),  in 
one  of  the  public  libraries  of  Paris,  in  the  hand  writing 
of  your  illustrious  countryman,  Dr.  Franklin.  The 
letter  is  in  very  bad  French,  but  in  very  good  gallantry. 
While  the  great  man  was  U.  S.  Minister  to  Paris, 
he  formed  a  friendship  with  a  very  charming  lady, 
who  was  said  to  be  most  enthusiastic  in  her  admira 
tion  of  him ;  and  after  he  had  bid  her  good-bye,  pre 
vious  to  leaving  for  the  U.  S.,  she  wrote  him  a  letter 
entreating  him  to  postpone  his  departure  if  possible 
for  a  day  or  two.  To  this  letter  the  Doctor  sent  the 
following  reply : 


Gallantry.  169 

"If  Dr.  Franklin  was  engaged  to  go  to  Paradise  at  eight 
o'clock  in  the  morning,  he  would  put  it  off  till  four  in  the  after 
noon,  for  the  sake  of  one  hour  more  in  the  society  of  so  enchant 
ing  a  daughter  of  earth." 

A  French  gentleman  who  called  my  attention  to 
this  remarkable  note,  affected  to  laugh  at  its  bad 
French,  and  at  the  extravagance  of  the  language,  but 
I  expressed  my  surprise  that  he  should  think  anything 
too  extravagant  in  love,  at  the  same  time  assuring 
him  that  I  had  never  met  a  Frenchman  in  all  my  life, 
who  would  not  postpone  the  idea  of  Paradise  alto 
gether  for  the  sake  of  a  pretty  woman. 


HEROINES     OF     HISTORY. 


HEROINES  OF  HISTORY. 


IN  attempting  to  give  a  definition  of  strong-minded 
women,  I  find  it  necessary  to  distinguish  between 
just  ideas  of  strength  and  what  is  so  considered  by 
the  modern  woman's  rights  movement. 

A  very  estimable  woman,  by  the  name  of  Mrs. 
Bloomer,  obtained  the  reputation  of  strong-minded  by 
curtailing  her  skirts  six  inches,  a  compliment  which 
certainly  excites  no  envious  feeling  in  my  heart ;  for 
I  am  philosophically  puzzled  to  know  how  cutting  six 
inches  off  a  woman's  dress  can  possibly  add  anything 
to  the  height  of  her  head. 

There  have  been  a  great  many  wonderful  discoveries 
in  phrenological  science  of  late  years,  but  I  have  not 
heard  that  Mr.  Fowler  has  pushed  his  investigations 


174  Heroines  of  History. 

so  far  as  to  be  able  to  affirm  that  the  skirt  is  the  seat 
of  the  mind.  At  the  present  rate  of  scientific  disco 
very,  however,  it  may  not  be  long  before  such  a  pro 
position  will  be  seriously  put  forth  by  some  distin 
guished  reformer ;  but  until  then  we  must  be  permit 
ted  to  adhere  to  the  ancient  idea  of  strength,  and  to 
measure  a  woman  by  the  old-fashioned  intellectual 
standard,  before  we  venture  to  affirm  that  she  is 
strong-minded. 

One  or  two  hundred  women  getting  together  in  a 
convention  and  resolving  that  they  are  an  abused 
community,  and  that  all  the  men  are  great  tyrants 
and  rascals,  proves  plainly  enough  that  they — the 
women — are  somehow  discontented,  and  that  they 
have,  perhaps,  a  certain  amount  of  courage,  but  I  can 
not  see  that  it  proves  them  to  have  any  remarkable 
strength  of  mind. 

Really  strong-minded  women  are  not  women  of 
words  but  of  deeds,  not  of  resolutions  but  of  actions. 
History  does  not  teach  me  that  they  have  ever  con 
sumed  much  time  in  conventions  and  in  passing  reso- 


Heroines  of  History.  175 

lutions  about  their  rights  ;  but  they  have  been  very 
prompt  to  assert  their  rights,  and  to  defend  them  too, 
and  to  take  the  consequences  of  defeat. 

When  Barri  de  St.  Auner,  Henry  the  Fourth's 
Governor  of  Leucate,  was  on  a  journey  to  the  Due 
de  Montmorenci,  he  was  seized  by  the  Spanish 
soldiers  who  were  on  their  way  to  besiege  that  town, 
and  who  rejoiced  that,  having  the  Governor  in  their 
possession,  the  gates  of  the  place  would  readily  be 
opened  to  them ;  but  Constantia  de  Cecelli,  the  gov 
ernor's  wife,  at  once  assembled  the  garrison  and  put 
herself  so  resolutely  at  their  head,  pike  in  hand,  that 
she  inspired  the  weakest  with  courage,  and  the  besie 
gers  were  repulsed  wherever  they  presented  them 
selves.  Shame,  and  their  great  loss,  having  rendered 
the  besiegers  desperate,  they  sent  a  message  to  this 
heroic  woman,  telling  her  if  she  did  not  yield  the 
City  they  would  hang  the  Governor,  her  husband. 
She  replied  with  tears  in  her  eyes,  "  I  have  riches  in 
abundance,  I  have  offered  them  and  do  still  offer 
them  all  for  his  ransom,  but  I  would  not  ignomi- 


176  Heroines  of  History. 

niously  purchase  a  life  which  he  would  reproach  me 
with  and  which  he  would  be  ashamed  to  enjoy.  I  will 
not  dishonor  him  by  treason  against  my  king  and 
country." 

The  soldiers  made  another  unsuccessful  attack,  and 
then  savagely  put  her  husband  to  death,  and  raised 
the  siege.  Henry  IY.  afterwards  sent  this  lady  the 
brevet  of  Governor  of  Leucate  with  the  reversion  for 
her  son. 

That,  now,  is  the  example  of  a  real  strong-minded 
woman,  and  history  is  full  of  such  examples,  which 
indicate  the  courage  and  intellect  of  woman,  and  her 
right  to  claim  equality  with  the  harder  sex  whenever 
Heaven  has  imparted  to  her  the  gift  of  genius.  I 
can  hardly  see  how  it  is  possible  that  any  woman  of 
true  genius  should  ever  feel  the  necessity  of  calling 
together  conventions  for  the  purpose  of  resolving 
that  she  is  abused.  One  woman  going  forth  in  the 
independence  and  power  of  self-reliant  strength  to 
assert  her  own  individuality,  and  to  defend,  with 
whatever  means  God  has  given  her,  her  right  to  a 


Heroines  of  History.  177 

just  portion  of  the  earth's  privileges,  will  Jk>  more 
than  a  million  of  convention- women  to  make  herself 
known  and  felt  in  the  world.  There  is  such  a  great 
difference  between  strength  of  mind  and  strength  of 
tongue  I  Men  only  laugh  at  a  convention  of  scolds, 
and  pay  no  more  attention  to  what  they  say  than  to 
the  chattering  of  a  flock  of  blackbirds  ;  but  they  will 
gaze  with  admiration  and  respect  on  a  woman  who 
sets  herself  to  a  brave  and  manly  task,  and  actually 
accomplishes  a  heroic  deed.  Genius  has  no  sex. 
Look  back  upon  the  page  of  history,  and  see  how 

clearly  this  fact  is  proved.     When  women  attack  and 
* 

defend  fortifications,  when  they  command  armies  and 
obtain  victories,  what  do  you  call  it?  That  is  no 
drawing-room  business.  If  a  Jean  de  Montfort  can 
do  a  better  business  at  defending  her  Duchy  of 
Bretagne,  with  sword  in  hand,  than  any  man  of  her 
day,  why,  then,  let  her  fight.  You  surely  would  not 
call  her  off  to  the  business  of  frying  pancakes  and 
brushing  down  cobwebs.  Let  woman,  like  man,  do 
that  for  which  nature  has  best  fitted  her.  Look  at 


178  Heroines  of  History. 

Margaret  of  Anjou,  the  active  and  intrepid  soldi  ei 
and  general,  whose  genius  supported  for  a  long  time 
a  feeble  husband,  taught  him  how  to  conquer, 
replaced  him  upon  a  throne  from  which  he  had 
fallen,  twice  relieved  him  from  prison,  and,  though 
oppressed  by  fortune  and  by  rebels,  did  not  bend 
until  after  she  had  decided  in  person  twelve  battles ! 
What  have  you  to  say  about  the  "  sphere"  of  such  a 
woman  as  that?  Would  you  take  her  from  her 
career  of  glory  on  the  battle-field  and  apprentice  her 
to  the  business  of  dress-making  ?  And,  with  such  an 
example  before  you,  will  you  pause  to  dispute  about 
the  intellect  of  woman  ? 

Look  again  at  Jane  of  Belleville,  widow  of  Mons. 
de  Chisson,  who  was  beheaded  at  Paris*  on  the  suspi 
cion  of  carrying  on  a  correspondence  with  England 
and  the  Count  de  Montfort.  Filled  with  despair  at 
the  death  of  her  husband,  and  exasperated  at  the 
shame  heaped  upon  his  name,  she  sent  her  son 
secretly  to  London,  and  when  she  was  assured  +hat 
he  was  safe,  she  sold  her  jewels,  fitted  out  three  ships. 


Heroines  of  History.  179 

and  put  to  sea  to  revenge  the  death  of  her  husband. 
She  made  several  successful  descents  upon  Nor 
mandy,  and  the  inhabitants  of  that  province  were 
forced  to  be  idle  spectators  whilst  their  villages  were 
in  a  blaze  at  the  hand  of  one  of  the  handsomest 
women  in  Europe,  who,  with  a  sword  in  one  hand 
and  a  torch  in  the  other,  urged  on  the  carnage,  and 
directed  all  the  horrors  of  the  war. 

There  can  be  no  doubt  of  woman's  intellect  and 
woman's  power  in  that  affair ;  but  we  shall  be  told 
that  such  examples  are  almost  solitary  cases.  No, 
they  are  not.  It  will  puzzle  any  man  to  find  in  the 
pages  of  history  as  many  instances  of  real  and  start 
ling  heroism  in  his  sex  as  I  could  hunt  up  in  mine. 
There  have  been  whole  eras  in  which  the  heroism  of 
woman  shone  out  with  a  general  lustre  which  made  it 
the  rule  and  not  the  exception  of  her  character. 
Such  was  particularly  the  case  in  the  fifteenth  and 
sixteenth,  centuries,  especially  in  Hungary  and  in  the 
islands  of  the  Archipelago  and  the  Mediterranean, 
when  they  were  invaded  by  the  Turks. 


180  Heroines  of  History. 

Once,  indeed,  for  the  space  of  four  hundred  years, 
the  heroism  of  woman  was  a  potential  power  in 
Europe,  showing  itself  in  the  midst  of  convulsions 
and  great  revolutions. 

Of  course  all  well-read  people  (and  almost  every 
body  in  this  country  is  well-read)  have  some  general 
knowledge  of  the  heroic  history  of  the  women  of 
Cappadocia,  called  the  Amazons :  and  although 
much  that  ancient  history  records  of  them  may  be 
fabulous,  yet  enough  is  proved  to  show  that  the  men 
of  that  day  played  an  entirely  subordinate  part  both 
in  the  halls  of  legislation  and  the  strife  of  the  battle 
field.  Old  Priam  is  made  to  say : — 

"  In  Phrygia  once  were  gallant  armies  known. 
And  I  to  join  them  raised  the  Trojan  horse  : 
Against  the  manlike  Amazons  we  stood, 
And  Banger's  stream  ran  purple  with  their  blood." 

According  to  Diodorus,  the  Amazons  were  regular 
woman's  rights  women ;  for  they  made  laws  by  which 
the  women  were  enjoined  to  go  to  the  wars,  and  the 
men  were  kept  at  home  in  a  servile  state,  spinning 


.     Heroines  of  History.  181 

wool  and  doing  all  manner  of  household  work.  No 
woman  was  allowed  to  marry  till  she  had  slain  at 
least  one  enemy  on  the  battle-field. 

The  right  breasts  of  all  the  female  children  were 
seared  with  a  hot  iron,  in  order  to  give  the  freest  use 
of  the  right  arm  in  wielding  the  sword  or  in  shooting 
arrows ;  and  they  even  debilitated  the  arms  and  thighs 
of  the  male  children,  that  they  might  be  rendered  un 
fit  for  war.  That,  I  should  say,  was  carrying  the 
woman's  rights  question  to  an  extent  that  ought  to 
satisfy  even  our  modern  agitators.  But  in  justice  to 
these  terrible  Amazon  women,  it  must  be  confessed 
that  the  world  has  never  known  better  and  braver 
warriors  than  they. 

And  at  a  much  later  day  the  habits  and  manners  of 
chivalry,  by  bringing  great  enterprises,  bold  adven 
tures,  and  extravagant  heroism  into  fashion,  inspired 
the  women  with  the  same  wild  taste.  In  consequence 
of  the  prevailing  fashion,  fine  ladies  were  seen  in  the 
midst  of  camps  and  armies.  They  gave  up  the  soft 
and  tender  passion  and  delicate  offices  of  their  sex, 


182  Heroines  of  History. 

for  the  toilsome  occupations  of  war.  During  the 
Crusades,  while  animated  by  the  double  enthusiasm 
of  religion  and  valor,  they  often  performed  the  most 
incredible  exploits  on  the  field  of  battle,  and  died  with 
arms  in  their  hands  by  the  side  of  their  lovers. 

The  heroism  of  the  women  of  Suli  was  scarcely 
eclipsed  by  that  of  the  noble  Spartans  who  fell  in  the 
pass  of  Thermopylae.  They  bore  all  the  brunt  of  the 
terrible  attacks  of  Ali  Pacha,  shedding  their  dearest 
blood  in  defence  of  their  native  fastnesses,  defying 
tyranny,  and  setting  an  example  of  a  patriotism  which 
stands  even  with  the  highest  monument  which  the 
heroism  of  man  ever  raised  to  his  fame.  All  was  a 
festival  of  death  behind  the  terrible  and  resistless" 
march  where  the  Suliot  women  brandished  the  wea 
pons  of  war. 

The  army  of  the  Arabian  chief  Kalad  was  accom 
panied  by  a  phalanx  of  women,  who  performed  all 
the  duties  of  cavalry,  and  formed  a  distinguished  por 
tion  of  the  army.  I  have  read  that  the  present  king 
of  Siam  has  a  chosen  band  of  female  warriors  formed 


Heroines  of  History.  183 

of  the  most  beautiful  women  of  his  land.  The  world 
is  familiar  with  the  heroism  of  the  Prefect  Gregory's 
daughter,  who  repulsed  the  immense  and  powerful 
army  of  Abdallah ;  and  we  all  remember  Joan  of 
Arc,  whose  cruel  death  will  ever  be  a  stain  on  the 
escutcheon  of  England. 

The  Countess  of  St.  Belmont  used  to  take  the 
field  with  her  husband  and  fight  by  his  side.  She 
sent  several  Spanish  prisoners  which  she  took  to 
Marshal  Tenonieres,  and  at  home  this  beautiful  lady 
was  all  affability  and  sweetness,  and  devoted  herself 
to  study  and  to  acts  of  piety.  The  history  of  the 
Countess  of  Belmont  always  reminds  me  of  some 
exquisite  lines  of  Moore  : 

"  Yet  there  was  light  around  her  brow, 
A  holiness  in  those  bright  eyes, 
Which  showed,  though  wandering  earthward  now, 
Her  spirit's  home  was  in  the  skies. 
Yes,  for  a  spirit  pure  as  hers, 
Is  always  pure,  e'en  while  it  errs, 
As  sunshine  broken  in  the  rill, 
Though  turned  astray,  is  sunshine  still." 


184  Heroines  of  History. 

Portia,  the  beautiful  daughter  of  Cato  of  Utica,  was 
not  only  an  adept  in  philosophy,  but  she  gave  proofs 
of  the  highest  spirit  of  heroism. 

When  Brutus,  her  husband,  was  preparing  for  the 
assassination  of  Caesar,  she  shrewdly  guessed  that  some 
great  and  dangerous  enterprise  was  on  his  mind,  but 
Brutus  would  not  trust  her  with  the  secret ;  and  she 
resolutely  cut  herself  with  a  knife  to  show  by  con 
stancy  and  patience  in  suffering  pain,  that  she  was 
capable  of  heroic  deeds,  and  fit  to  be  trusted  with 
desperate  secrets.  When  Brutus  saw  this,  he  lifted 
up  his  hands  to  heaven,  and  begged  the  assistance  of 
the  Gods,  that  he  might  live  to  be  a  husband  worthy 
of  such  a  wife  as  Portia,  and  he  communicated  to 
her  the  plan  for  killing  Caesar ;  and  when  she  heard 
that  Brutus  had  been  taken,  and  had  killed  himself, 
she  heroically  followed  his  example,  and  died  by 
swallowing  burning  coals. 

The  Countess  of  Derby  was  one  of  the  best  heroines 
of  English  History.  In  that  memorable  struggle  be 
tween,  the  House  of  Stuart  and  the  Parliament,  she 


Heroines  of  History.  183 

was  the  last  person  in  the  British  dominions  who  con 
sented  to  yield.  Collecting  all  her  vassals  in  Latham 
castle,  she  defended  it  with  the  greatest  bravery,  after 
the  heart  of  every  male  hero  had  given  out. 

"When  Eobert,  Duke  of  Normandy,  was  wounded 
by  a  poisoned  arrow,  the  physicians  declared  that 
nothing  could  save  him  but  to  have  the  wound  sucked 
by  some  one,  whose  life  would  surely  fall  a  sacrifice ; 
the  Duke  disdained  to  save  his  own  life  by  hazarding 
that  of  another, — but  Sibilla,  his  wife,  performed  the 
fatal  office,  and  died  to  save  her  husband. 

Thus  all  history  is  full  of  startling  examples  of 
female  heroism,  which  prove  that  woman's  heart  is 
made  of  as  stout  a  stuff,  and  of  as  brave  a  mettle  as 
that  which  beats  within  the  ribs  of  the  coarser  sex. 

And  if  we  were  permitted  to  descend  from  this 
high  plane  of  public  history,  into  the  private  homes 
of  the  world,  in  which  sex,  think  you,  should  we 
there  find  the  purest  spirit  of  heroism  ?  Who  suffers 
sorrow  and  pain  with  the  most  heroism  of  heart  ? 
Who  in  the  midst  of  poverty,  neglect,  and  crushing 


i86  Heroines  of  History. 

despair,  holds  on  most  bravely  through  the  terrible 
struggle,  and  never  yields  even  to  the  fearful  demands 
of  necessity,  until  death  wrests  the  last  weapon  of 
defence  from  her  hands !  Ah,  if  all  this  unwritten 
heroism  of  woman  could  be  brought  to  the  light,  even 
man  himself  would  cast  .his  proud  wreath  of  fame  at 
her  feet ! 

The  discovery  of  America  is  due  to  the  far-seeing 
sagacity  and  patronage  of  a  woman,  Queen  Isabella 
of  Aragon ;  for  when  the  king  and  his  court  had  re 
fused  with  scorn  the  petition  of  Columbus,  the  great 
discoverer  had  recourse  to  the  queen,  who  furnished 
him  with  the  means  and  aid,  which  resulted  in  his 
triumphant  success. 

Isabella  united"  all  the  graces  and  feminine  qualities 
of  the  woman  with  the  soul  and  daring  of  a  hero,  the 
profound  and  artful  address  of  a  politician,  the  exten 
sive  views  of  a  legislator,  and  the  courage  of  a 
conqueror.  She  attended  the  council  chamber,  she 
mounted  on  horseback  and  paraded  the  ranks  of  the 
army,  animating  them  to  battle  and  conquest ;  while 


Heroines  of  History.  187 

her  name  appears  jointly  with,  that  of  Ferdinand  in 
all  public  acts,  and  she  was  really  the  mind  of  the 
throne  and  the  hero  of  the  battle-field. 

Not  only  have  women  distinguished  themselves  as 
warriors,  but  they  have  shone  as  transcendent  stars 
in  the  firmament  of  state.  As  diplomatists  and  poli 
ticians,  many  women  have  shown  that  they  were 
intellectually  equal  to  the  wisest  men.  "What  mon 
arch  of  her  day  can  boast  of  greater  intellectual  powers 
than  Semiramis  ?  though  with  sorrow  it  must  be  con 
fessed  that  she  possessed  all  the  vices  as  well  as  the 
intellect  of  a  male  monarch.  She  prevailed  upon  her 
infatuated  husband  to  invest  her  with  the  sovereignty 
for  the  space  of  five  days — an  interregnum  which  she 
commenced  by  putting  him  to  death.  History  also 
accuses  her  of  having  afterwards  selected  her  favorites 
in  succession  from  the  flower  of  the  army,  putting 
them  afterwards  to  death,  lest  they  should  be  living 
witnesses  of  her  crimes.  "We  have  good  reason  to  be 
shocked  at  the  terrible  deeds  of  this  mighty  woman ; 
and  her  example  has  been  adduced  to  prove  that  wo- 


i88  Heroines  of  History. 

•men  cannot  hold  power  without  abusing  it.  But 
with  all  her  crimes  Semiramis  was  far  less  wicked 
than  hundreds  of  male  monarchs,  who  have  murdered 
their  wives,  and  even  their  own  children,  when  they 
stood  in  the  way  of  ambition  or  their  passions. 

What  monarch  of  ancient  times  had  a  more  splen 
did  reign  than  Zenobia,  queen  of  Palmyra  and  the 
East?  Her  intellect,  her  sagacity,  and  her  courage 
made  her  the  peer  of  any  male  sovereign  of  her  time. 
But  alas !  as  hundreds  of  crowned  men  have  done,  she 
sullied  all  this  by  an  act  of  cowardice  for  which  she 
ought  never  to  be  forgiven,  by  throwing  the  blame 
of  her  obstinate  resistance  to  the  Komans  upon  her 
prime  minister,  Longinus,  who  was  in  consequence 
immediately  borne  away  to  death  by  Aurelian.  But, 
as  Gibbon  well  writes,  uthe  fame  of  this  great  man 
will  survive  that  of  the  queen  who  betrayed  him." 

In  the  list  of  great  female  sovereigns  few  have  been 
more  celebrated  than  Queen  Elizabeth;  and  what 
man  has  ever  sat  on  the  proud  English  throne  who 
was  wiser  in  diplomacy,  or  firmer  in  rule  than  she  ? 


Heroines  of  History.  189 

She  lias  been  called  "  England's  most  gigantic  mon 
arch,"  a  thing  which  may  be  said  without  shame  to 
any  king  who  ever  lived.  We  speak  this  of  her 
intellect  alone,  for  we  are  incapable  of  feeling  any 
admiration  for  the  heart  of  Elizabeth.  Her  dissimu 
lation,  her  jealousy,  and  her  ungenerous  treatment 
of  Mary,  have  thrown  a  black  shadow  upon  her  heart 
which  the  sun  of  time  can  never  lift. 

What  does  history  say  of  the  intellect,  the  genius,  the 
diplomatic  skill  of  Catharine  II.,  Empress  of  Eussia  ? 
What  king  in  her  day  was  a  match  for  her  ?  She  was 
bold,  grasping,  ambitious,  and  intellectually  powerful 
enough  to  make  half  a  dozen  of  such  male  monarchs 
as  are  now  seated  upon  the  thrones  of  the  world. 

And  we  may  say  as  much  of  Christina  of  Sweden, 
who  excelled  in  every  masculine  power.  Indeed  this 
giantess  ungraciously  despised  everything  that  was 
feminine.  On  one  occasion  she  dismissed  her  female 
attendants,  and  laid  aside  the  garb  as  well  as  the 
manners  of  her  sex,  saying :  "I  would  become  a 
man  ;  yet  I  do  not  love  men  because  they  are  men, 


190  Heroines  of  History. 

but  because  they  are  not  women."  She  was  called 
the  "female  Samson."  Olympias,  the  consort  of 
Philip  of  Macedon,  and  mother  of  Alexander,  was 
scarcely  less  gifted  or  less  a  hero  in  her  passions 
and  power ;  and  we  might  add  a  long  list  of  women 
who  have  been  intellectually  more  than  a  match  for 
the  cunningest  man-monarchs  of  their  day. 

I  do  not  by  any  means  hold  up  these  gigantic  women 
as  models  of  character ;  but  then,  bad  as  they  were, 
they  were  infinitely  better  than  the  general  run  of  the 
male  rulers  of  those  days.  It  is  only  because  they 
were  women,  that  history  has  singled  out  the  bad  of 
their  lives,  and  refuses  to  dwell  upon  the  great  and 
brave  deeds  which  place  them  equally  by  the  side  of 
the  greatest  heroes  or  monarchs  of  the  harder  sex. 
Let  historical  justice  be  done  to  the  intellect  of  woman, 
and  I  am  content  to  leave  the  history  of  her  heart  and 
moral  life,  without  comment,  to  defend  itself  by  con 
trast  with  that  of  the  other  sex. 

It  is  true,  that  there  is  hardly  a  great  or  heroic 
woman  of  history,  whose  name  has  escaped  the  con- 


Heroines  of  History.  191 

tagion  of  scandal.  Queen  Elizabeth,  Mary  of  Scot 
land,  Margaret  of  Anjou,  Catharine  of  Eussia,  Chris 
tina  of  Sweden,  the  Empress  Josephine,  even  poor 
Joan  of  Arc,  and  almost  every  great  woman  of  anti 
quity,  have  shared  a  common  fate  in  this  particular, 
while  great  men  have  passed  measurably  unscathed 
because,  I  suppose,  the  world  had  no  right  to  expect 
any  degree  of  morality  in  the  life  of  a  great  man. 
But  woman — ah !  she  must  be  a  saint,  even  while  she 
hurls  a  tyrant  from  his  throne,  and  does  the  rough 
work  of  war  and  revolution.  "Well,  so  she  should  be, 
and  thus  leave  to  man  the  entire  monopoly  of  all  the 
sin  of  the  world ! 

While  the  male  historian  seeks  for  faults  in  the 
lives  of  the  great  female  characters  of  history,  let  me 
ask  him  where,  on  his  side  of  the  house,  he  can  point 
to  such  illustrious  examples  of  virtue  and  heroism  as 
are  seen  in  the  history  of  Lucretia  and  the  Princess 
Octavia?  But  though  it  has  to  be  admitted  that 
woman  has  distinguished  herself  on  the  battle-field 
and  in  the  Senate,  it  has  been  said  that  she  has  never 


192  Heroines  of  History. 

risen  anything  near  to  an  equality  with  man  in  the 
department  of  science  and  literature. 

That  woman's  mind,  like  her  physique,  is  generally 
less  coarse,  and  strong,  and  heavy  than  that  of  man, 
must  be  admitted ;  but  what  she  lacks  in  strength  she 
gains  in  speed,  and  she  has  shown  an  aptness  for 
learning,  and  even  a  capacity  for  profound  study, 
which  commanded  the  admiration  of  the  heaviest 
philosophers  of  the  other  sex. 

Cornelia,  the  mother  of  the  Gracchi,  was  one  of  the 
most  learned  persons  in  the  study  of  the  sciences  in 
all  Rome,  and  her  public  lectures  on  philosophy  were 
listened  to  by  all  the  wise  men  of  her  time. 

What  man  in  the  eighteenth  century  was  more 
classically  learned  than  Madame  Dacier?  She  not 
only  translated  Homer,  and  several  other  of  the  Greek 
and  Latin  classics,  but  she  assisted  her  husband  in  the 
translation  of  Plutarch's  Lives,  and  performed  deeds 
of  scholarship  which  called  forth  the  admiration  of 
the  learned  world. 

The  most  accomplished  linguist  of  the  last  century. 


Heroines  of  History.  193 

was  a  woman  by  the  name  of  Elizabeth  Carter.  She 
not  only  translated  works  from  the  Greek,  Latin,  and 
Hebrew,  but  she  spoke  with  great  fluency  and  ease 
French,  Portuguese,  Arabic,  Italian,  German,  and 
Spanish.  Helena  Lucretia  Canaro  was  the  most 
learned  person  in  Yenice,  in  her  time.  She  was  ad 
mitted  to  the  University  at  Kome,  where  she  had  the 
title  of  "  humble"  given  to  her,  in  consequence  of  her 
quiet  devotion  to  study;  and  she  had  a  doctor's 
degree  conferred  upon  her  at  Padua.  All  who  passed 
through  Yenice  were  more  solicitous  to  see  her  than 
any  of  the  curiosities  of  that  superb  old  city. 

Jane  of  Aragon  was  so  celebrated  for  her  learning, 
wit,  beauty,  and  courage,  that  a  collection  of  poems 
in  her  praise  was  published  at  Yenice,  in  the  Latin, 
Greek,  Italian,  French,  Spanish,  Sclavonic,  Polish, 
Hungarian,  Hebrew,  and  Chaldean  languages.  The 
Marchioness  of  Chatelet,  Ann  Clifford,  Sophonisba, 
daughter  of  Asdrubal  of  Carthage,  and  hundreds  of 
others  who  might  be  named,  were  scarcely  less  gifted 
in  the  circles  of  science  and  learning.  Some  of  the 


194  Heroines  of  History. 

most  celebrated  authors  of  France  have  been  women 
What  male  author  of  her  time,  in  France,  presumed  to 
stand  by  the  side  of  Madame  de  Stael  for  vigor  and 
strength  of  intellect  ?  And  Madame  de  Genlis  was 
really  the  author  of  more  valuable  and  successful 
works  of  literature  than  all  the  male  authors  of  France, 
in  her  time,  put  together.  And  the  most  powerful 
writer  of  France,  at  this  day,  is  a  woman — George 
Sand.  The  genius  and  mental  powers  of  Madame 
Eoland  gave  her  a  place  among  the  highest  minds  of 
France.  Among  the  distinguished  authors  of  even 
proud  England,  Lady  Montague  holds  a  distinguished 
place.  She  stood  at  the  head  of  the  literary  wits  of 
her  day ;  and  even  Pope  and  Horace  "Walpole  were 
not  averse  to  admitting  her  "  equality  "  of  intellect. 
It  was  this  gifted  lady  who  had  the  immortal  honor 
of  introducing  inoculation  into  England,  having  first 
heroically  tried  its  efficacy  on  her  own  child.  To  skip 
over  a  long  list  of  distinguished  literary  women  of 
England,  who  are  among  the  best  authors  that  country 
has  produced,  I  may  mention  that  the  most  consider- 


Heroines  of  History. 

able  English,  author  of  the  present  day  has  a  rival  in 
the  genius  of  his  own  wife — &  thing  which  very  few 
men  can  brook,  and  Sir  Edward  Bulwer  is  by  no 
means  an  exception  to  this  vanity  of  his  sex ;  for  I 
blush  to  say  that  he  has  not  even  allowed  his  wife's 
good  fame  to  remain  undisturbed. 

But  then,  that  is  a  thing  which  has  rarely  ever  been 
allowed  to  a  woman  of  genius  who  has  devoted  her 
pen  to  the  public  service,  or  mingled  in  the  popular 
tumults  of  the  world.  It  was  not  allowed  to  Madame 
de  Stael,  Madame  de  Grenlis,  Lady  Montague,  any 
more  than  it  was  allowed  to  that  greatest  ornament  of 
ancient  literature,  the  gifted  and  beautiful  Aspasia, 
who  was  called  the  "mistress  of  Pericles." 

But  there  is  a  class  of  heroines  who  have  been  more 
powerful  in  the  world  than  the  mighty  women  of  the 
sword  or  of  the  pen.  I  mean  those  who  have  united 
great  personal  beauty  with  rare  intellectual  powers ! 
In  such  women  there  is  a  power  stronger  than  strength. 
The  annals  of  Greece  and  Rome,  from  the  memorable 
days  of  Troy,  down  to  the  Roman  age,  furnish  nothing 


196  Heroines  of  History. 

more  remarkable  than  the  omnipotent  sway  of  female 
genius  and  beauty  in  the  affairs  of  the  world.  The 
first  revolution  in  which  kingly  power  was  destroyed 
was  a  woman's  deed.  And  the  next  revolution  in 
which  plebeians  were  elevated  to  the  consulship  was 
also  the  work  of  woman. 

It  was  the  beauty  and  genius  of  Aspasia  that  caused 
the  famous  war  of  the  Peloponnesus,  and  conducted 
Athens  to  its  most  refined  epoch.  It  was  the  power 
of  female  intellect  and  beauty  that  drove  into  banish 
ment  such  great  men  as  Aristotle  and  Euripides,  at  a 
time  when  their  genius  was  the  chief  glory  of  their 
country.  Indeed  there  has  been  no  age  of  history  yet, 
when  the  combined  power  of  intellect  and  beauty  in 
a  woman  has  not  made  her  greater  than  either  diplo 
macy  or  the  sword. 

One  of  the  most  remarkable  of  this  type  of  heroines 
was  Cleopatra,  Queen  of  Egypt.  To  the  great  beauty 
and  gracefulness  of  her  person,  Cleopatra  added  the 
attractions  of  wit,  affable  manners,  and  high  mental 
acquirements.  Amid  the  pleasures  and  avocations  of 


Heroines  of  History.  197 

a  court,  she  ceased  not  to  cultivate  learning ;  and,  in 
addressing  ambassadors  of  different  languages,  she 
astonished  them  with  the  correctness  and  fluency  of 
her  diction.  If  you  say  of  this  great  woman,  that  it 
was  by  ambition  and  passion  that  she  finally  lost  her 
power  and  her  life,  I  shall  ask  you  of  how  many 
thousands  of  male  monarchs  has  the  same  thing  been 
more  than  true  ? 

Cleopatra  was  born  in  troublesome  times,  and  drew 
her  first  breath  in  the  contagion  of  a  licentious  court ; 
while  in  tender  years,  she  was  raised  to  the  seducing 
eminence  of  a  throne,  and  surrounded  by  a  crowd  of 
flatterers,  who  neither  dared  to  reprove,  nor  desired 
to  correct,  the  increasing  follies  of  her  conduct. 

As  a  beauty,  she  was  admired ;  as  a  queen,  she  was 
addressed  with  adulation ;  and  possessing  the  means 
of  indulgence,  she  yielded  to  pleasure  in  all  its  various 
forms. 

I  do  not  offer  one  excuse  for  her  faults.  I  only 
demand  that  a  great  woman  should  be  judged  by  the 
same  rules  by  which  a  great  man  is  judged.  If  the  lords 


198  Heroines  of  History. 

of  creation  demur  to  this,  I  shall  challenge  them  to 
show  me  by  what  divine  right  they  are  justified  in  a 
career  of  pleasure  which  should  be  forbidden  to 
woman ! 

The  mighty  Thermatis,  another  Queen  of  Egypt, 
was  made  quite  as  powerful  by  her  beauty  and  intel 
lect,  as  Cleopatra.  In  fact,  in  almost  every  ancient 
court,  the  beauty  and  wit  of  women  was  the  secret  but 
potent  power  which  controlled  the  councils  of  diplo 
macy  and  the  state.  It  was  the  power  behind  the 
throne  which  was  greater  than  the  throne  itself.  The 
lady  in  Hudibras  did  not  exceed  the  truth  when  she 
gave  the  following  humorous  description  of  her 
powers : — 

"  We  manage  things  of  greatest  weight, 
In  all  the  world's  affairs  of  state ; 
We  make  and  execute  the  laws, 
Can  judge  the  judges  and  the  cause  j 
We  rule  in  every  public  meeting, 
And  make  men  do  what  we  judge  fitting. 
Are  magistrates  in  all  great  towns, 
Where  men  do  nothing,  "but  wear  gowns  I 


Heroines  of  History.  igg 

We  are  your  guardians,  that  increase 
Or  waste  your  fortunes  as  we  please  j 
And  as  you  humor  us,  can  deal 
In  all  your  matters,  ill  or  well." 


And  this  is  as  true  of  modern  as  of  ancient  courts. 
Eousseau  asserts  that  "  all  great  revolutions  were  owing 
to  women."  The  French  revolution,  the  last  great 
and  stirring  event  upon  which  the  world  looks  back, 
arose,  as  Burke  ill-naturedly  expresses  it,  "amidst  the 
yells  and  violence  of  women."  We  accept  the  com 
pliment  which  Burke  here  pays  to  the  power  of  woman, 
and  attribute  the  coarseness  of  his  language  to  the 
bitter  repugnance  which  every  Englishman  of  that  day 
had  to  everything  that  was  French. 

No,  Mr.  Burke,  it  was  not  by  "yells  and  violence" 
that  the  great  women  of  France  helped  on  that  mighty 
revolution — it  was  by  the  combined  power  of  intellect 
and  beauty.  Nor  will  women  who  get  together  in 
conventions  for  the  purpose  of  berating  men,  ever 
accomplish  anything.  They  can  affect  legislation  only 
by  quiet  and  judicious  counsel,  with  such  means  as 


2oo  Heroines  of  History. 

control  the  judgment  and  the  heart  of  legislators, 
And  the  experience  of  the  world  has  pretty  well 
proved  that  a  man's  judgment  is  pretty  easily  con 
trolled  when  his  heart  is  once  persuaded. 

These  convention  women,  it  is  to  be  hoped,  would 
make  good  wives  and  mothers,  if  they  should  ever 
turn  their  thoughts  in  that  direction ;  but  they  cer 
tainly  are  very  poor  politicians. 

They  may  rest  assured,  too,  that  they  will  never 
get  the  right  to  vote  by  clamorously  demanding  it  in 
public.  No,  the  wise  and  cunning  of  my  sex  all 
know  that,  in  politics,  they  must  not  even  let  the  right 
hand  know  what  the  left  hand  doeth.  And  what  do 
I  care  who  carries  the  votes  to  the  box,  if  I  am  allowed 
to  say  how  the  voting  shall  be  done?  The  will  of 
every  intellectual  and  adroit  woman  does  go  to  the 
ballot-box,  with  a  voice  a  hundred  fold  more  potential 
than  if  she  rushed  into  the  coarse  crowd  to  carry  it 
there  herself.  In  such  a  contact  the  mass  of  women 
would  only  lose  the  delicacy  and  refinement  which 
now  constitute  their  only  charm,  without  getting  any 


Heroines  of  History.  201 

benefit  for  the  terrible  sacrifice.  The  kitchen  and  the 
parlor,  and  all  the  sacred  precincts  of  home,  would  be 
immeasurably  impaired,  while  there  would  be  no  gain 
whatever  to  the  councils  of  the  state.  If  a  woman  is 
qualified  to  be  a  happy  wife  and  a  good  mother,  she 
need  never  look  with  envy  upon  the  more  gifted 
woman  of  genius,  whose  mental  powers,  by  fitting  her 
for  the  stormy  arena  of  politics,  may  have  unfitted  her 
for  the  quiet  walks  of  domestic  life.  In  the  woman 
of  rare  mental  endowments,  there  may  be  a  necessity 
in  her  own  nature,  forcing  her  into  a  field  of  action 
altogether  different  in  its  sphere  from  the  duties  usually 
allotted  to  woman.  Where  this  is  the  case,  she  must 
obey  her  destiny ;  but  the  woman  who  has  only  those 
humbler  charms  which  fit  her  to  be  the  light  and  the 
presiding  goddess  of  the  beautiful  circle  of  "  home," 
is  really  to  be  envied  by  her  more  gifted  sister  whose 
powers  tempt  her  out  upon  the  turbulent  sea  of  poli 
tics  and  diplomacy. 

But,  alas !  woman's  lot  in  this  sphere  of  home  is  too 
often  a  sad  and  thankless  one.     It  is  demanded  of  her 


2O2  Heroines  of  History. 

that  she  make  a  home  whether  her  husband  provides 
the  means  or  not,  and  it  must  be  a  happy  one,  though 
his  temper  is  as  savage  as  that  of  a  tiger. 

And  how  many  thousands  of  women  do  make  a 
home,  and,  for  their  children,  a  happy  one  too,  when 
spendthrift  husbands  have  deprived  them  of  all 
resources  but  their  own  industry  and  skill  ?  and  how 
many  millions  of  the  "  lords  of  creation  "  really  live  on 
the  skill  and  industry  of  their  wives  ?  The  greatest 
tragic  actress  that  ever  lived,  Maria  Arne,  was  only 
tempted  on  to  the  stage  after  the  extravagance  of  her 
husband,  Theophilus  Gibber,  had  left  her  no  other 
resources.  Her  debut  was  so  much  admired,  that  her 
salary  was  voluntarily  doubled  after  the  first  night. 
When  Garrick  was  made  acquainted  with  the  circum 
stances  of  this  worthy  lady's  death,  he  exclaimed, 
"  Then  Tragedy  has  expired." 

Laura  Barri,  a  celebrated  Italian  lady,  was  a  scarcely 

*  */  /  J 

less  illustrious  example  of  the  same  thing.  She  began 
to  read  lectures  on  natural  philosophy,  and  continued 
the  practice  until  she  died.  Her  singular  acquire- 


Heroines  of  History.  203 

ments  procured  her  the  honorable  title  of  Doctor  of 
Philosophy. 

History  is  full  of  such  examples.  But  what  should 
most  command  our  admiration  is  that  unwritten 
page  of  history  where  millions  of  heroic  women  have 
toiled  on  through  disease,  and  poverty,  and  desertion, 
too  brave  to  give  up,  even  under  the  most  terrible 
burdens,  and  too  proud  to  let  the  world  see  the  oceans 
of  tears  they  shed  in  secret.  "While  discouraged  man, 
inglorious,  flies  to  the  gaming  table,  or  seeks  oblivion 
in  the  bottle,  his  heroic  wife  sits,  almost  the  night 
through,  sewing  by  the  dim  light  of  a  candle,  to  earn 
the  wherewith  for  to-morrow's  breakfast !  She  is  the 
only  heart  in  that  household  which  does  not  yield  to 
despair — the  only  prop  which  does  not  break  under 
the  pitiless  weight  of  misfortune ! 

What  do  men  mean  when  they  call  woman  the 
weaker  sex  ?  Not,  surely,  that  she  is  less  strong  and 
brave  of  heart  and  purpose  to  meet  the  tidal  shocks 
of  life !  Not  that  she  is  not  every  whit  the  peer  of 
man  in  all  the  elements  of  heroism  and  genuine 


204  Heroines  of  History. 

nobility  of  soul !  That  masculine  philosophy  whict 
regards  and  would  treat  woman  as  an  inferior  being, 
is  not  only  an  insult  to  that  God  who  created  her  as 
the  equal  companion  of  man,  but  it  is  contradicted  by 
every  stage  of  history  and  experience.  Her  excel 
lence  may  be  generally  displayed  in  a  less  ostentatious 
field  than  man's,  but  still  the  idea  of  perfect  equality 
is  not  impaired  on  that  account. 

ISTor  does  this  idea  of  woman's  equality  destroy  the 
idea  that  the  woman  who  is  a  wife  should  study  to 
reflect  the  opinions  and  the  honor  of  her  husband, 
provided  he  is  a  man  who  has  opinions  and  honor  to 
be  reflected.  I  fully  endorse  the  sentiment  of  Plutarch, 
that  "  a  wife  should  be  as  a  mirror  to  represent  her 
husband,"  provided  he  is  such  a  husband  as  an  honor 
able  woman  could  justly  represent. 

Erasmus  said,  "  As  a  looking-glass,  if  it  be  a  true 
one,  faithfully  represents  the  face  of  him  that  looks 
in  it,  so  a  wife  ought  to  fashion  herself  to  the  affection 
of  her  husband,  not  to  be  cheerful  when  he  is  sad,  nor 
sad  when  he  is  cheerful." 


Heroines  of  History.  203 

Such,  it  is  bat  just  to  confess,  have  also  been  the 
sentiments  of  the  greatest  of  women  who  have  been 
wives  and  mothers.  The  gifted  and  beautiful  Cor 
nelia,  mother  of  the  Gracchi,  whom  some  frivolous 
companions  would  have  enticed  from  home  and  its 
duties,  said,  pointing  to  her  children,  "  These  are  my 
jewels,  my  pastime,  my  opera,  my  amusements." 
When  the  wife  of  Philo,  the  father  of  philosophy,  was 
asked  why  she  wore  no  gold,  she  made  this  reply, 
that  she  thought  her  "husband's  virtues  sufficient  orna 
ments."  And  it  was  the  boast  of  the  wife  of  Leonidas, 
that  "her  countrywomen  alone  could  produce  men." 
Thus  in  the  best  type  of  the  female  character,  there 
is  a  firmness  which  does  not  exclude  delicacy,  and  a 
softness  which  does  not  imply  weakness. 


COMIC    ASPECT     OF    LOVE. 


3       TO  3*3  A 


t> 


COMIC  ASPECT  OF  LOVE. 


MY  subject  to-night  is  the  comic  aspect  of  love, 
No  doubt  most  of  you  have  had  some  little  experi 
ence,  at  least  in  the  sentimental  and  sighing  side  of 
the  tender  passion ;  and  what  I  propose  to  do  is  to 
give  you  the  humorous  or  comic  side.  Perhaps  I 
ought  to  begin  by  begging  pardon  of  the  ladies  for 
treating  so  sacred  a  thing  as  love  in  a  comic  way,  or 
for  turning  the  ludicrous  side  of  so  charming  a 
thing  as  they  find  love  to  be,  to  the  gaze  of  men — but 
I  wish  to  premise  that  I  shall  not  so  treat  sensible  or 
rational  love. 

Of  that  beautiful  feeling,  less  warm  than  passion, 
yet  more  tender  than  friendship,  I  shall  not  for  a 
moment  speak  irreverently ;  of  that  pure  disinterested 


21  o  Comic  Aspect  of  Love. 

affection — as  charming  as  it  is  reasonable,  which  one 
sex  feels  for  the  other,  I  cannot  speak  lightly.  But 
there  is  a  certain  romantic  senseless  kind  of  love, 
such  as  poets  sometimes  celebrate,  and  men  and 
women  feign,  which  is  a  legitimate  target  for  ridicule. 
This  kind  of  love  is  fanciful  and  foolish ;  it  is  not 
the  offspring  of  the  heart,  but  of  the  imagination.  I 
know  that  generous  deeds  and  contempt  of  death 
have  sometimes  covered  this  folly  with  a  veil.  The 
arts  have  twined  for  it  a  fantastic  wreath,  and  the 
Muses  have  decked  it  with  the  sweetest  flowers ;  but 
this  makes  it  none  the  less  ridiculous  nor  dangerous. 
Love  of  this  romantic  sort  is  an  abstraction  much  too 
light  and  subtle  to  sustain  a  tangible  existence  in  the 
midst  of  the  jostling  relations  of  this  busy  world.  It 
is  a  mere  bubble  thrown  to  the  surface  by  the  passions 
and  fancies  of  men,  and  soon  breaks  by  contact  with 
the  hard  facts  of  daily  life.  It  is  a  thing  which  bears 
but  little  handling. 

The  German  Wieland,  who  was  a  great  disciple  of 
Love,  was  of  opinion  that  "  its  metaphysical  effects 


Comic  Aspect  of  Love.  211 

began  with  the  first  sigh,  and  ended  with  the  first 
kiss !"  Plato  was  not  far  out  of  the  way  when  he 
called  it  "  a  great  devil ;"  and  the  man  or  woman 
who  is  really  possessed  of  it,  will  find  it  a  very  hard 
one  to  cast  out. 

There  is  a  curious  story  extant  in  the  old  chroni 
cles,  that  when  the  charms  of  a  fair  damsel  had  made 
Alexander  pause  in  his  career  of  ambition,  his  tutor 
and  guardian,  Aristotle,  endeavored  to  arouse  the 
spirit  of  the  hero,  by  ridiculing  the  weakness  of 
love ;  and  this  was  so  far  effectual  as  to  cause  the 
great  monarch  to  absent  himself  from  his  fair  enchan 
tress.  She  bewailed  her  fate  for  some  time  in  soli 
tude,  and  when  she  could  endure  the  suspense  no 
longer,  forced  her  way  into  the  presence  of  her  lord. 
Her  beauty  again  smiled  away  the  dreams  of  glory 
from  his  mind,  and  he  accused  Aristotle  of  having 
been  the  cause  of  his  absence.  The  fair  lady  was 
enraged  that  the  philosopher  should  thus  interfere 
with  her  happiness,  and  she  assured  Alexander  that 
she  would  give  him  proof  that  Aristotle  had  no  right 


212  Comic  Aspect  of  Love. 

to  give  such  advice,  as  he  himself  was  equally  suscep 
tible  to  the  charms  of  beauty.  Accordingly  the 
next  morning  she  repaired  to  the  lawn  before 
Aristotle's  chamber,  and  as  she  approached  the 
casement,  she  broke  the  stillness  of  the  air  by 
chanting  a  love-ditty,  the  wild  notes  of  which 
charmed  the  philosopher  from  his  studies.  He 
stole  to  the  window,  and  saw  a  form  fairer  than 
any  image  which  even  his  own  genius  had  invented. 
Her  face  was  unveiled,  and  her  tresses  strayed  down 
her  neck,  while  her  dress,  like  the  drapery  of  an 
ancient  statue,  displayed  the  elegance  of  her  form- 
She  loitered  about  the  place  under  pretence  of  pluck 
ing  a  branch  of  myrtle  to  wreathe  round  her  brow. 

When  she  at  length  perceived  that  Aristotle  eagerly 
watched  her,  she  stole  underneath  the  casement,  and 
in  a  voice  full  of  emotion,  sang  that  she  was  riveted 
to  the  spot  by  love.  Aristotle  drank  in  the  delicious 
sounds,  and  her  beauty  appeared  to  him  more  resplen 
dent  than  ever.  Keason  faintly  whispered  that  he 
was  not  born  to  be  beloved,  for  his  hair  was  now 


Comic  Aspect  of  Love.  219 

white  with  age,  and  his  forehead  wrinkled  with  care  ; 
but  the  lady  carelessly  passed  close  to  his  window, 
and  in  his  admiration  he  caught  the  floating  folds  of 
her  robe.  She  affected  anger-,  and  he  then  avowed 
his  love.  She  listened  to*  his  confession  with  an 
artful  surprise  of  manner,  which  fanned  still  more 
the  flame  of  his  heart,  and  then  answered  him  with 
reproaches  for  having  sought  to  withdraw  from  her 
the  love  of  Alexander.  The  philosopher  swore  that 
lie  would  again  bring  his  pupil  to  her  feet,  if  she 
would  confer  some  sign  of  favor  upon  himself.  She 
feigned  an  intention  of  complying,  but  declared  that 
he  must  first  indulge  her  in  a  foolish  whim  which 
long  had  distracted  her  fancy,  and  this  was  an  almost 
insane  wish  to  ride  upon  the  back  of  a  wise  man. 
He  was  by  this  time  so  intoxicated  with  her  beauty, 
that  he  could  deny  her  nothing,  and  he  immediately 
threw  himself  on  his  hands  and  knees,  and  she  at 
once  sat  upon  his  back  and  urged  him  forward.  In 
a  minute  they  reached  the  terrace  under  the  royal 
windows,  and  the  King  had  a  fair  view  of  the  singu- 


214  Comic  Aspect  of  Love. 

lar  spectacle.  A  peal  of  laughter  from  the  windows 
awoke  the  philosopher  to  a  sense  of  his  position,  and 
when  he  saw  his  pupil,  he  owned  that  youth  might 
well  yield  to  love,  when  it  had  power  to  break  even 
the  frost  of  age. 

But  there  is  another  and  more  authentic  piece  of 
history  in  which  a  gentle  maiden  was  the  horse  who 
bore  her  lover  upon  her  back.  Eginhart,  who  was 
chaplain  and  secretary  to  the  Emperor  Charlemagne, 
secretly  won  the  love  of  Emma,  the  beautiful  daugh 
ter  of  his  majesty.  Once  these  lovers  sat  up  the 
whole  night,  not  taking  due  note  of  time,  until  the 
grey  light  of  morning  peeped  in  upon  them.  His 
young  reverence,  the  chaplain,  then  perceived  to  his 
horror,  that  during  the  night  there  had  been  a  great 
fell  of  snow.  Now  what  was  to  be  done?  The 
traces  of  hi  a  footsteps  would  discover  the  mystery  and 
make  it  certain  that  a  man  had  left  the  apartments  of 
the  princess.  But  did  you  ever  hear  of  a  woman's 
wits  forsaking  her  at  such  a  critical  moment?  The 
fair  Emma's  did  not  forsake  her,  for  she  took  her 


Comic  Aspect  of  Love.  215 

lover  upon  her  shoulders,  and  carried  him  through 
the  court-yard,  which  left  in  the  tell-tale  snow  only 
the  harmless  print  of  a  woman's  foot.  But,  alas  1  as 
the  course  of  true  love  never  did  run  smooth,  the 
Emperor  Charlemagne  being  up  at  a  very  early 
hour,  discovered  his  daughter  wading  through  the 
snow,  with  that  unique  burden  on  her  back.  He 
said  nothing  to  the  young  lovers,  but  the  next  day 
summoned  his  council,  and  made  the  affair  known  to 
them,  asking  what  should  be  done.  All  the  minis 
ters  agreed  that  summary  punishment  should  be 
visited  upon  the  guilty  chaplain.  "  No,"  said  the 
Emperor ;  "  it  is  easier  for  me  to  raise  Eginhart  to  a 
situation  in  which  he  will  be  worthy  of  my  daughter, 
than  to  publish  her  imprudence."  He  then  sum 
moned  the  culprit  before  the  council,  and  said  to  him, 
"  To  reward  your  long  services,  I  will  give  you  my 
daughter,  who  carried  you  upon  her  back."  This 
story  I  believe  to  be  as  well  authenticated  as  any 
piece  of  history  of  its  age,  and  it  derives  an  extra 
charm  from  the  lady  who  thus  turned  porter  for  her 


2 1 6  Comic  Aspect  of  Love. 

love  being  the  young  and  beautiful  daughter  of  so 
great  an  emperor.  Indeed  it  is  into  what  are  called 
the  higher  and  more  refined  circles  that  you  have  to 
look  for  the  best  specimens  of  sentimental  love. 

Of  the  refinements  of  love,  the  great  mass  of  men 
can  know  nothing.  The  truth  is,  that  sentimental 
love  is  so  much  a  matter  of  the  imagination,  that  the 
uncultivated  have  no  natural  field  for  its  display.  In 
America,  you  can  hardly  realize  the  full  force  of  this 
truth,  because  the  distinctions  of  class  are  happily 
nearly  obliterated.  Here  intellectual  culture  seems  to 
be  about  equally  divided  among  all  classes.  I  sup 
pose  it  is  not  singular  in  this  country  to  find  the 
poorest  cobbler,  whose  little  shanty  is  next  to  the 
proud  mansion  of  some  millionaire,  a  man  of  really 
more  mental  attainments  than  his  rich  and  haughty 
neighbor;  in  which  case  the  millionaire  will  do 
well  to  look  to  it,  that  the  cobbler  does  not  make 
love  to  his  wife ;  and  if  he  does,  nobody  need  care 
much,  for  the  millionaire  will  be  quite  sure  to  reci 
procate. 


Comic  Aspect  of  Love.  217 

The  great  statute,  "  tit-for-tat,"  is,  I  believe,  equally 
the  law  of  all  nations ;  besides,  love  is  a  great  leveller 
of  distinctions,  and  it  is  in  this  levelling  mission  that 
it  performs  some  of  its  most  ridiculous  antics.  When 
a  rich  man's  daughter  runs  off  with  her  father's 
coachman,  as  occasionally  happens,  the  whole  country 
is  in  a  roar  of  laughter  about  it.  There  is  an  innate, 
popular  perception-  of  the  ridiculousness  of  such  a 
thing ;  not  that  the  love  in  itself  is  ridiculous,  but 
everybody  sees  and  feels  that  in  such  cases  it  is  mis 
placed  and  grotesque. 

Every  one  perceives  that  the  woman's  heart  has 
taken  the  bit  in  its  mouth,  and  run  away  with  her 
brains.  But,  as  comedy  is  often  nearly  allied  to 
tragedy,  so  sorrow  is  sure  to  come  as  soon  as  the 
little  honeymoon  is  over.  This  romantic  love  cannot 
flourish  in  the  soil  of  poverty  and  want.  Indeed,  all 
the  stimulants  which  pride  and  luxury  can  administer 
to  it,  can  hardly  keep  it  alive.  The  rich  miss  who 
runs  away  with  a  man  far  beneath  her  in  education 

and  refinement,  must  inevitably  awake,  after  a  brief 
10 


21 8  Comic  Aspect  of  Love. 

dream,  to  a  state  of  tilings  which  have  made  her  un  for 
tunate  for  life;  and  he,  poor  man,  will  not  be  less 
wretched,  unless  she  has  brought  him  sufficient  money 
to  give  him  leisure  and  opportunity  to  indulge  his 
fancies  with  that  society  which  is  on  a  level  with  his 
own  tastes  and  education. 

So  do  you  not  perceive,  now,  that  the  eagerness  of 
the  sentimental  lover,  and  the  number  of  hours  con 
sumed  in  courtship,  become  indeed  ridiculous  when 
measured  with  the  duration  of  his  love?  How 
earnest  and  incessant  is  the  sportsman's  pursuit  of 
game — but  soon  evening  comes  on,  the  field  is  won, 
and  all  the  enthusiasm  ends  in  an  apoplectic  snore 
in  the  big  arm-chair !  Even  so  it  is  with  many  a 
lover ;  we  imagined  at  first  that  it  was  impossible  his 
affection  should  ever  cloy — alas !  the  heart  that  seemed 
to  be  all  on  fire,  reveals  now  only  the  cinders  of 
a  dying  passion ! 

Novelty  is  a  great  gloss  of  love,  but  it  is  a  varnish 
that  soon  wears  off  in  the  contact  of  constant  associa 
tions. 


Comic  Aspect  of  Love.  219 

Dean  Swift  humorously  says  that  "  married  people, 
for  being  so  closely  united,  are  but  the  apter  to  cease 
loving,  as  knots,  the  harder  they  are  pulled,  break 
the  sooner."  I  am  afraid  that  the  experience  of  too 
many  will  confirm  this  philosophy.  I  have  often 
wondered  why  some  ingenious  Yankee  has  not  disco 
vered  some  famous  salt,  to  keep  the  sweets  of  matri 
mony  from  cloying.  If  you  could  only  salt  down 
love,  and  thus  preserve  it,  what  a  blessing  it  would 
be  to  thousands ;  but  I  fear  it  would  be  a  difficult  task. 

There  are,  however,  many  homes  where  connubial 
discord  never  finds  entrance ;  though  but  few  where 
monotony  cannot  insinuate  itself.  Discord  is  an  in 
cendiary  who  sets  fire  to  the  house  of  love,  over  one's 
very  hea'd;  but  monotony  is  an  underminer,  who 
saps  the  foundations,  and  when  there  is  a  fall,  love  is 
for  ever  buried  in  the  ruins.  How  silly  then  is  the 
old  touch-word  of  love — "let  us  never  part."  In 
direct  opposition  to  this,  my  advice  to  you  is  to  .part 
as  often  at  least  as  is  necessary  to  give  a  little  tinge 
of  freshness  to  your  reunion. 


22o  Comic  Aspect  of  Love. 

A  young  married  lady  once  said  to  me,  "  Oh  how  I 
wish  my  husband  and  myself  were  as  happy  as  when 
we  were  courting!"  "Well,"  I  replied,  "why  then  did 
you  not  keep  on  courting  ?"  When  husband  and  wife 
cease  to  court  each  other,  the  romantic  passion  will 
soon  ily  the  house. 

It  is  a  great  deal  easier  work  to  win  a  lover,  than 
to  keep  him.  It  is  certainly  a  laughable  sight  to  see 
what  pains  men  and  women  take  to  catch  each  other, 
and  how  little  pains  they  take  to  hold  on  to  each  other. 
The  ancients  did  well  to  represent  Cupid  as  a  blind 
god,  for  he  not  only  makes  men  and  women  run 
blind  after  each  other,  but  he  leaves  them  equally 
blind  as  to  the  means  of  keeping  each  other. 

But  the  ancients  not  only  represented  Cupid  as 
blind,  but  he  was  also  described  as  the  mightiest  of 
the  gods,  sometimes  even  above  Jupiter  himself;  and 
if  we  had  time  to  go  over  the  history  of  the  world,  we 
should  find  that  many  of  the  greatest  events  are  the 
bli  ad  deeds  of  this  blind  divinity. 

One  of  the  most  comical  combats  in  the  history  of 


Comic  Aspect  of  Love.  221 

love,  took  place  in  the  reign  of  the  Emperor  Maxi 
milian  II.  Two  noblemen,  one  a  German,  the 
other  a  Spaniard,  who  had  each  rendered  great  ser 
vice  to  the  Emperor,  asked  the  hand  of  Helena  his 
daughter  in  marriage.  Maximilian  replied,  "  that  as 
he  esteemed  them  both  alike,  it  was  impossible  for 
him  to  choose  between  them,  and  that,  therefore,  their 
own  prowess  must  decide  it ;  but  not  being  willing  to 
risk  the  loss  of  either  by  engaging  them  in  deadly 
combat,  he  ordered  a  large  sack  to  be  brought,  and 
declared  that  he  who  should  put  his  rival  into  it, 
should  have  his  fair  Helena." 

And  this  whimsical  combat  was  actually  performed 
in  the  presence  of  the  Imperial  Court,  and  lasted  an 
hour.  The  unhappy  Spanish  nobleman  was  first 
overcome,  and  the  German  baron  succeeded  in  enve 
loping  him  in  the  sack,  took  him-  upon  his  back,  and 
laid  him  at  the  feet  of  the  Emperor.  I  suppose  this 
is  the  origin  of  the  phrase,  "gave  him  the  sack"  so 
common  in  the  literature  of  courting,  and  which  is,  I 
believe,  a  doomsday  word  in  the  ears  of  discarded  or 


222  Comic  Aspect  of  Love. 

rejected  lovers.  But  love  lias  not  confined  its  comi 
calities  and  its  extravagant  freaks  to  the  region  of 
the  state  and  diplomacy,  but  it  has  climbed  up  even 
to  the  gravity  of  the  church,  and  played  its  pranks 
with  the  dignity  and  sanctity  of  religion  and  holy 
orders. 

The  Ancient  History  of  the  Church  affords  many 
of  the  most  comic  illustrations  of  our  subject ;  but 
they  are  such  melancholy  examples  of  human  weak 
ness  and  folly,  that  we  must  feel  a  sense  of  pain  even 
in  the  laughter  they  excite. 

In  the  13th  century  in  France,  there  was  a  most 
extraordinary  sect  of  fanatics,  which  went  by  the 
name  of  the  "  The  Lovers'  League"  Their  zeal  was 
to  prove  the  excess  of  their  love  by  their  invincible 
obstinacy  in  withstanding  the  seasons. 

The  married  and  single  men  and  women  who  were 
initiated  into  that  order,  were  bound  by  solemn  oath 
to  cover  themselves  with  the  thinnest  apparel  in  the 
most  frosty  weather,  and  also  to  bundle  themselves 
up  in  the  warmest  clothing  in  the  hottest  days  of  sum- 


Comic  Aspect  of  Love.  223 

mer.  In  the  warmest  seasons  they  lighted  great 
fires,  and  in  the  coldest  there  was  not  a  coal  allowed 
upon  the  hearth.  Their  chimneys  in  mid- winter  were 
trimmed  with  fresh  foliage,  and  all  the  evergreens  of 
summer.  If  one  of  the  members  of  this  sect  entered 
the  house  of  a  brother,  the  husband  instantly  left,  put 
the  visitor's  horse  into  the  stable,  and  never  returned 
to  his  own  house  until  the  visiting  brother  was  gone  : 
and  so,  in  turn,  he  was  treated  in  the  same  hospitable 
way,  when  he  went  to  visit. 

This  religious  sect  won  to  its  faith  many  men  and 
women  of  intellect  and  position.  But  the  habit  of 
freezing  themselves  in  winter  and  roasting  in  sum 
mer,  and  other  excesses,  seems  to  have  made  such  fear 
ful  inroads  upon  their  health,  that  the  ridiculous  sect 
died  gradually  out  in  ten  or  fifteen  years. 

At  a  little  earlier  date  there  was  a  sect  in  Italy 
called  the  Fratricelli,  which  was  a  sort  of  free  love 
church.  They  had  for  their  chiefs  those  who  professed 
great  religious  sanctity,  and  who  under  the  pretence 
of  morality  led  the  most  dissolute  lives.  The  sect 


224  Comic  Aspect  of  Love. 

spread  rapidly,  until  it  was  forcibly  suppressed  by  the 
thirteenth  general  council  at  Vienna,  under  the  Ponti 
ficate  of  Pope  Clement  Y. 

The  Mormons,  and  numerous  other  modern  reli 
gionists,  give  a  similar  proof  of  the  ridiculous  results 
which  spring  from  a  combination  of  fanaticism  and 
love.  When  religious  fanaticism  works  by  love,  good 
bye  to  all  the  wholesome  restraints  of  chastity  and 
law. 

When  we  see  these  things  as  far  off  as  the  13th  cen 
tury,  we  can  laugh  at  them;  even  no  further  than  Salt 
Lake  City  they  are  very  funny ;  but  it  would  no 
longer  be  a  subject  of  amusement  if  such  practices 
were  brought  to  our  own  doors,  and  into  our  own 
families.  For  instance,  suppose  that  borne  along  from 
one  degree  to  another  on  the  tide  of  religious  enthu 
siasm,  the  wife's  affections  should  gradually  relax 
their  tender  and  beautiful  hold  upon  the  circle  of 
home,  and  should  so  far  wander  abroad  as  to  find  the 
excitement  of  the  evening  meeting  indispensable  to  her 
happiness !  Her  imagination  once  unduly  aroused  by 


Comic  Aspect  of  Love.  225 

a  new  and  novel  enthusiasm,  would  bear  her  on  very 
rapidly  into  new  attachments,  and  into  outside  circles 
of  enjoyment  and  affection.  And  then  suppose  that 
the  husband's  house  should  at  all  times  be  as  open  to 
the  minister  as  was  the  house  of  a  member  of  the 
lovers'  league  to  a  visiting  brother,  how  long  do  you 
think  it  would  be  before  the  ministering  brother 
would  have  a  greater  influence  over  the  wife  for  good 
or  evil,  than  the  husband  ? 

I  have  no  means  of  judging  except  from  general 
principles  of  human  nature.  Whatever  invades  the 
sanctity  and  unity  of  home ;  whatever  strikes  even  at 
the  exclusiveness  of  home;  whatever  admits  outside 
authority  or  outside  enthusiasm  of  any  kind,  to  share 
a  fraction  of  the  affection  and  the  interest  of  the  home, 
opens  the  door  to  the  insidious  spirit  of  temptation 
and  intrigue ;  and  if  all  the  absurd  and  demoralizing 
vagaries  of  the  free  love  fanaticism  follow  in  their 
train,  you  may  thank  the  hand,  whosesoever  it  was, 
which  first  drew  the  wife's  or  the  husband's  enthusiasm 

into  other  circles  than  those  of  home. 
10* 


226  Comic  Aspect  of  Love. 

Mahomet  several  times  altered  the  spirit  and  the 
letter  of  his  spiritual  revelations  at  the  dictation  of 
love.  It  was  love  that  induced  him  to  insert  into  the 
Koran  the  article  which  permits  husbands  to  fall  in 
love  with  their  handsome  female  servants. 

Mahomet  had  two  wives  when  he  became  enamor 
ed  of  one  of  his  slaves,  named  Moutia,  of  singular 
beauty.  His  wives  publicly  reproached  him  with 
this,  and  to  make  it  all  right,  he  was  obliged  to  make 
.Allah  speak,  which  he  did  in  the  fifty-sixth  chapter 
of  the  Koran,  where  he  declares  that  it  had  been  re 
vealed  to  him  that  all  good  Mussulmans  might  make 
love  to  their  slaves  in  spite  of  their  wives.  This 
pretty  Moutia,  whose  charms  brought  down  such  a 
singular  revelation  from  Allah,  was  an  Egyptian  by 
birth,  and  by  education  a  Christian,  and  it  was  said 
that  the  government  of  Egypt  had  presented  her  to 
Mahomet.  But  no  sooner  had  heaven  been  made  to 
sanction  concubinage,  than  it  also  fully  authorized 
adultery,  for  the  prophet  becoming  enamored  of  the 
wife  of  one  of  his  freedmen  named  Gaib,  he  carried 


Comic  Aspect  of  Love.  227 

her  off  and  married  her.  This  occasioned  a  great 
scandal  at  first,  but  Mahomet  put  a  stop  to  all  mur 
murs,  by  making  an  addition  to  the  thirty-third  chap 
ter  of  the  Koran,  where  he  makes  Allah  declare  that 
he  had  married  Zanib  to  his  prophet!  And  as  this 
new  article  might  justly  awaken  the  apprehensions  of 
all  husbands  who  had  pretty  wives,  Mahomet  made 
Heaven  declare  also  that  if  he  should  ever  in  future 
become  enamored  of  married  women,  they  should  be 
sacred ;  and  this .  was  perfectly  satisfactory  to  the 
husbands.  // 

There  is  indeed  no  end  to  the  vagaries  of  love 
when  once  it  is  connected  with  the  religious  element, 
or  even  with  philosophical  enthusiasm.  The  religious 
Mormons,  and  the  philosophical  Free-lovers,  are  suffi 
cient  evidences  of  that. 

The  vagaries  of  this  free-love  philosophy  are  as 
old  in  the  world  as  sin.  But  they  have  never  accom 
plished  anything,  yet,  with  all  their  fine-spun  theo 
ries,  but  to  tempt  and  destroy  women.  Upon  man 
they  have  only  had  the  effect  to  degrade  his  own 


228  Comic  Aspect  of  Love. 

soul,  while  they  have  not  much  injured  his  public 
position,  because  he  has  the  making  of  public  opinion 
in  his  own  hands.  Give  woman  an  equal  share  in 
the  manufacture  of  public  opinion,  and  she  might 
then  more  safely  compete  with  man  in  practising  this 
demoralizing  philosophy  with  impunity. 

But  as  it  is,  man  has  a  complete  monopoly  of  this 
whole  business,  and  all  that  woman  can  safely  do  is 
to  touch  not,  and  taste  not,  the  fruits  of  such  ridicu 
lous  vagaries.  She  must  make  the  principle  con 
tained  in  the  following  lines  from  Goethe's  Faustus 
the  rule  of  her  being : — 

"Ah!  maiden,  fair! 

What  dost  thou  there, 

Pr'ythee  declare, 
A.t  the  door  of  thy  love  ere  morning? 

What  can'st  thou  win  ? 

Pure  from  all  sin ; 

He  lets  thee  in, 
Will  he  let  thee  out  so  at  dawning? 

"  Now  stars  are  bright, 
Wait  for  the  night, 


Comic  Aspect  of  Love.  229 

If  not,  good  night, 
Good  night  to  your  fame,  says  the  singer. 

Keep  her  from  harm, 

List  not  his  charm, 

Fly  from  his  arm, 
If  he  show  not  the  ring  on  his  finger." 


WITS  AND   WOMEN 


OF 


PAR 


is 


WITS    AND    WOMEN    OF    PARIS. 


THE  French,  wits  tell  a  laughable  story  of  an  un- 
travelled  Englishman  who,  on  landing  at  Calais,  was 
received  by  a  sulky  red-haired  hostess,  when  he  in 
stantly  wrote  down  in  his  note-book — "All  French 
women  are  sulky  and  red-haired." 

We  never  heard  whether  this  Englishman  after 
wards  corrected  his  first  impressions  of  French  women, 
but  quite  likely  he  never  did,  for  there  is  nothing  so 
difficult  on  earth  as  for  an  Englishman  to  get  over 
first  impressions,  and  especially  is  this  the  case  in 
relation  to  everything  in  France.  An  aristocratic 
Englishman  may  live  years  in  Paris  without  really 
knowing  anything  about  it.  In  the  first  place,  he 
goes  there  with  letters  of  introduction  to  the  Faubourg 


234          Wits  and  Women  of  Paris. 

St.  Germain,  where  lie  finds  only  the  fossil  remains 
of  the  old  noblesse,  intermixed  with  a  slight  proportion 
of  the  actual  intelligence  of  the  country,  and  here  he 
moves  round  in  the  stagnant  circles  of  historical 
France,  and  it  is  a  wonder  if  he  gets  so  much  as  a 
glimpse  of  the  living  progressive  Paris.  There  is 
nothing  on  earth,  unless  it  be  a  three  thousand  year 
old  mummy,  that  is  so  grim,  and  stiff,  and  shrivelled, 
as  the  pure  old  French  nobility. 

France  is  at  present  the  possessor  of  three  separate 
and  opposing  Nobilities. 

1st.  There  is  the  Nobility  of  the  Empire,  the  Na 
poleonic  nobility,  which  is  based  on  military  and  civil 
genius. 

2d.  There  is  the  Orleans  Nobility,  the  family  of  the 
late  Louis  Philippe,  represented  in  the  person  of  the 
young  Count  de  Paris. 

3d.  The  Legitimists,  or  the  old  aristocracy  of  the 
Bourbon  stock,  represented  in  the  person  of  Henry 
the  Fifth,  Due  de  Bordeaux,  now  some  fifty  years  old, 
and  laid  snugly  away  in  exile  in  Italy. 


Wits  and  Women  of  Paris.          235 

It  is  worthy  of  remark  that  the  Orleanists  and  the 
Legitimists  do  not  bear  to  each  other  much  more  love 
than  they  do  the  Bonaparte  family. 

In  fact,  both  Legitimists  and  Orleanists  winked  at 
the  coup  d'etat  of  Louis  Napoleon,  because  they  pre 
ferred  to  accept  what  they  deem  a  temporary  outside 
rule,  rather  than  to  give  way  one  to  the  other.  Those 
who  are  familiar  with  the  actual  state  of  things  in 
France  know  very  well  that  Louis  Napoleon  obtained 
the  throne  through  the  mutual  jealousies  of  the  Legi 
timists  and  the  Orleanists,  and  we  may  add  that  he 
holds  that  throne  by  the  same  tenure ;  and  whenever 
the  interests  of  those  opposing  families  become  one, 
then  will  the  present  Emperor  have  to  battle  sharply 
to  retain  his  throne  ;  and  that  time  may  not  be  far  off. 

The  Due  de  Bordeaux,  who  is  without  issue,  is  the 
last  of  the  old  Bourbon  line,  and  when  he  dies  that 
branch  of  the  royal  claimants  will  become  extinct,  and 
then  the  Count  de  Paris  will  be  the  sole  legitimate  heir 
to  the  throne  of  France.  Then  the  now  divided  inte 
rests  will  become  one. 


236          Wits  and  Women  of  Paris. 

To  this  consolidated  aristocracy  we  may  add  that 
other  power  most  considerable  in  France,  the  Socialist 
or  Democratic  party,  who  thoroughly  hate  Louis  Na 
poleon,  and  will  jump  at  the  first  opportunity  to 
revenge  themselves  upon  what  they  regard  as  his 
treachery  to  the  republic.  The  Emperor  is  himself 
keenly  sensible  to  the  fact  that  whenever  all  these  in 
terests  become  consolidated  into  one  against  him,  as 
by  the  accident  of  the  death  of  one  man  they  are  quite 
sure  to  do,  he  will  be  terribly  shaken  upon  his  throne. 
This  is  probably  the  real  reason  of  his  anxiety  to  seal 
a  fast  friendship  between  himself  and  England,  in 
which  project  he  is  encouraged  by  the  fact  that  Eng 
land  really  owes  the  Bourbons  no  particular  good 
will.  Now  it  is  this  old  Bourbon  or  Legitimate  line 
that  we  mean  when  we  speak  of  the  aristocracy  of 
France.  This  nobility  has  all  the  old  and  most 
revered  names  of  France — names  rendered  dear  to  the 
French  by  association  with  the  early  battles  and 
proudest  history  of  the  country. 

This  nobility  lives  in  isolation  from  the  rest  of 


Wits  and  Women  of  Paris.  237 

France.  They  regard  their  country  as  now  in  a 
state  of  anarchy.  They  did  not  acknowledge  Louis 
Philippe,  and  they  patiently  wait  for  the  time  when 
a  legitimate  sovereign  shall  sit  once  more  on  the  con 
secrated  throne  of  the  Bourbons. 

This  proud  old  Nobility  never  marry  out  of  their 
own  ranks.  The  English  nobleman  may  marry  a 
tradesman's  daughter,  but  a  French  nobleman  of  this 
branch  would  as  soon  renounce  his  religion  as  do 
that.  They  are  not  a  part  of  society  in  France, 
rarely  ever  appear  at  public  places  of  amusement,  or 
show  themselves  in  any  of  the  ordinary  thorough 
fares  of  the  people.  However  poor  they  may  be, 
they  still  quietly  and  proudly  wrap  themselves  in 
the  dignity  of  their  birth,  and  shut  their  eyes  and 
ears  to  all  the  activities  of  living  France. 

There  was  one  lady  of  this  Nobility,  bearing  the 
historic  name  of  Forbin  Jansen,  who  made  a  mesalli 
ance  for  her  second  marriage,  with  a  celebrated 
painter  by  the  name  of  Jaquard.  For  this  she  was 
banished  from  society,  but  being  a  most  estimable 


238  Wits  and  Women  of  Paris. 

lady,  she  retained  the  respect  of  many  individuals  of 
the  Nobility,  who  quietly  continued  her  society.  Cir~ 
cumstances  brought  me  to  the  acquaintance,  and  I 
may  say  to  the  friendship  of  this  lady.  She  was  a 
great  admirer,  and  by  her  influence  a  patron  of  art 
and  genius  in  whatever  profession  it  displayed  itself. 
I  had  to  ascend  six  flights  of  stairs,  where  I  found 
the  old  marquise  surrounded  with  poverty,  but  still 
with  all  the  airs  of  real  nobility.  There,  in  that 
garret,  she  received  the  most  distinguished  names  of 
old  France ;  and  although  in  great  poverty,  she  is  still 
a  leading  oracle  of  the  ancient  legitimist  nobility. 
With  that  nobility  wealth  or  poverty  is  nothing ;  all 
is  birth. 

Much  is  said  and  much  believed  in  this  country 
about  the  intrigues  among  the  different  classes  of  the 
French,  but  in  justice  to  them  it  must  be  said  that 
nearly  all  these  intrigues  are  somehow  based  in  intel- 
lectualism.  Intellectual  beauty  goes  farther  in  Paris 
than  in  any  other  part  of  the  globe. 

It  is  not  uncommon  to  see  an  old  lady  of  sixty 


Wits  and  Women  of  Paris.          239 

years  the  idol  of  a  man  of  thirty.  Mdlle.  Mars,  the 
great  comic  actress  of  France,  when  she  was  sixty 
years  old,  won  the  heart  and  mind  of  Count  de 
Morny,  who  was  but  twenty-six,  and  one  of  the 
handsomest  men  in  France.  I  have  seen  him 
myself  at  the  Italian  opera  in  Paris,  hang  over  her 
chair,  as  though  he  were  about  to  dissolve  into  sighs ; 
it  was  spring  madly  laying  its  head  of  flowers  in  the 
lap  of  winter.  And  yet  she  was  not  even  in  her 
youth,  beautiful ;  but  she  knew  how  to  be  charming. 
And  above  all,  and  more  than  all,  she,  had  genius, 
which  always  goes  so  far  with  the  French  gallant. 
The  world  is  familiar  with  the  fact  that  when  she 
was  robbed  of  all  her  diamonds,  this  young  Count 
presented  her  with  a  new  set  worth  over  four  hun 
dred  thousand  francs ! 

The  famous  Dejazet,  another  actress  of  great  comic 
genius,  when  she  was  forty-five  years  old,  though 
neither  beautiful  nor  refined  in  her  manners,  ran 
away  with  the  hearts  of  half  the  young  men  of  Paris. 
The  son  of  that  General  Bertrand  who  shared  the 


240  Wits  and  Women  of  Paris. 

captivity  of  Napoleon  at  St.  Helena,  became  totally 
ruined  in  his  fortune  by  this  celebrated  wit.  There 
was  a  time  when  no  feast  for  literary  people  in  Paris 
was  complete  without  her.  Her  wit  sparkled  like 
champagne.  Her  repartees  were  inimitable,  and 
were  repeated  from  mouth  to  mouth  all  over  Paris. 
Nothing  could  equal  the  magnificence  and  elegance 
of  her  house — her  kind  heart  was  like  a  deep  well 
for  ever  flowing. 

Young,  and  when  her  genius  was  in  the  first  fresh 
tide  of  its  fame,  a  young  nobleman,  not  over  gifted 
with  brains,  used  to  wait  upon  her  almost  every  day 
with  some  valuable  present,  as  a  testimony  of  the 
admiration  her  mental  gifts  had  won.  But  one  day 
he  came  without  a  present,  and,  in  a  confused  manner, 
told  her  in  the  presence  of  her  company  that  he  should 
hereafter  bring  a  present  only  every  other  day ;  "  then," 
said  she,  "  come  only  every  other  day." 

No  description  which  I  can  give  can  convey  a  just 
idea  of  the  fascination  of  society  among  such  wits  as 
Dejazet;  and  nowhere  do  you  find  that  kind  of 


Wits  and  Women  of  Paris.          241 

society  so  complete  as  in  Paris.  Nowhere  else  do  you 
find  so  many  ^  women  of  wit  and  genius  mingling  in  the 
assemblies  and  festive  occasions  of  literary  men ;  and 
I  may  add  that  in  no  part  of  the  world  is  literary 
society  so  refined,  so  brilliant,  and  charmingly  intel 
lectual  as  in  Paris.  It  is  a  great  contrast  to  literary 
society  in  London  or  America.  Listen  to  the  follow 
ing  confession  of  Lord  Byron : — "  I  have  left  an 
assembly  filled  with  all  the  great  names  of  haut-ton  in 
London,  and  where  little  but  names  were  to  be  found, 
to  seek  relief  from  the  ennui  that  overpowered  me,  in 
a  cider  cellar !  and  have  found  there  more  food  for 
speculation  than  in  the  vapid  circles  of  glittering  dill- 
ness  I  had  left." 

Could  the  noble  poet  have  found  in  London  the 
society  that  gathers  around  such  wits  and  men  of 
genius  as  Dumas,  Yictor  Hugo,  MeYy,  Samson,  in 
Paris,  he  would  have  been  spared  the  humiliation  of 
seeking  the  society  of  a  cider-cellar  to  save  himself 
from  ennui.  Around  these  last-mentioned  literary 

lights  revolved  the  intelligence  and  wit  of  Paris  during 

11 


242          Wits  and  Women  of  Paris. 

my  residence  there  six  years  ago.  Of  these  Dumas 
was  the  first,  as  he  would  be  in  any  city  of  the  world. 
He  is  not  only  the  boon  companion  of  princes,  but  the 
prince  of  boon  companions.  He  is  now  about  fifty-five 
years  old — a  tall,  fine  looking  man,  with  intellect 
stamped  on  his  brow,  and  wit  sparkling  in  every  look 
and  motion.  Of  all  the  men  I  ever  met  with,  he  is 
the  most  brilliant  in  conversation.  His  nature  is  over 
flowing  with  generosity,  and  he  is  consequently  always 
out  of  pocket.  He  receives  immense  sums  for  his 
writings,  but  they  never  meet  his  expenses.  Indeed, 
one  of  the  funniest  things  in  Paris  is  the  perpetual 
flight  of  Alexander  Dumas  from  his  creditors.  To 
elude  them  he  used  sometimes  to  live  from  house  to 
house,  among  his  friends.  He  once  went  to  borrow 
five  francs  of  a  wealthy  old  lady,  who  said,  "  Oh, 
Monsieur  Dumas,  a  hundred  if  you  want  it."  But  he 
said,  "  Only  five,  to  pay  my  cab  hire."  He  was  a  great 
favorite  of  this  excellent  old  lady,  and  in  the  conver 
sation  she  informed  him  that  she  had  just  finished  her 
preserves  for  the  winter,  and  insisted  on  his  taking  a 


Wits  and  Women  of  Paris.  243 

pot  as  a  present.  The  servant  girl  took  it  down  to 
Dumas's  cab,  whereon  he  immediately  handed  her  the 
five-franc  piece  which  he  had  borrowed  of  her  mistress 
— the  only  actual  money  he  was  at  that  time  in  posses 
sion  of.  Such  is  Alexander  Dumas's  appreciation  and 
use  of  money. 

Another  time  Dumas  met  a  poor  artist  who  told 
him  he  was  starving,  and  had  not  a  penny  to  save 
himself.  Dumas  had  not  a  penny  either,  but  he  found 
a  gentleman  who  knew  him,  and  went  with  him  into 
the  first  bank  they  passed.  He  said  to  the  banker,  "I 
am  Alexander  Dumas."  All  immediately  paid  their 
respects  to  him ;  he  continued,  "  Here  is  a  gentleman 
whom  you  know,  who  knows  that  I  am  Dumas,  and 
here  is  a  poor  artist  who  is  starving,  and  I  have  no 
money  to  give  him.  I  wish  you  to  accept  a  bond  from 
me  on  the  first  book  I  write  for  fifty  francs."  It  was 
accepted,  and  the  poor  artist  went  on  his  way  rejoic 
ing. 

It  very  often  happens  that  when  Dumas  is  visiting 
a  friend,  one  of  his  creditors  is  announced,  and  he 


244          Wits  and  Women  of  Paris. 

instantly  makes  for  his  hat,  and  flies  before  his  foe 
like  a  Mexican  lancer.  He  owes  everybody  in  Paris ; 
out  of  a  hundred  men  you  meet,  you  may  be  sure  that 
seventy-five  of  them  are  Dumas's  creditors. 

His  marriage  was  an  act  of  flight  from  a  creditor. 
The  lady  was  an  actress,  Mdlle.  Ada,  who  had  neither 
beauty,  genius,  nor  a  spotless  character  to  commend 
her — but  her  father  was  a  broker  to  whom  poor  Dumas 
owed  immense  sums  of  money,  and  he  was  pushing 
Dumas  to  the  last  extremity  of  the  law  for  his  money. 
But  Dumas  had  no  money,  and  the  old  broker,  seized 
with  a  bright  thought,  proposed  to  forgive  him  the 
whole  amount  if  he  would  marry  his  daughter  Ada. 
This  alternative  Dumas  preferred  to  going  to  jail,  so 
he  did  marry  her — if  such  a  life  as  they  afterwards 
led  could  be  called  a  married  life. 

One  afternoon,  on  stepping  suddenly  into  his  own 
drawing-room,  he  caught  a  stranger  gentleman  in  the 
act  of  giving  a  kiss  to  his  wife.  He  gazed  at  him  with 
wonder  for  some  time,  and  then  exclaimed,  u  Good 
heavens,  and  without  his  being  obliged  to !" 


Wits  and  Women  of  Paris.          245 

Dumas  lias  always  been  a  great  favorite  with  the 
Orleans  family ;  in  fact,  I  know  not  what  society  in 
France  is  not  glad  to  receive  him,  though  he  has  a 
horror  of  society,  in  the  usual  acceptation  of  the  term. 
He  is  always  sought  for  at  convivial  suppers,  and  is 
always  sure  to  attend  them. 

Eoger  de  Beauvoir,  another  wit  and  writer  of 
romance  and  poetry,  was  one  of  the  three  men  that 
kept  Paris  alive  when  I  was  there.  He  was  most 
eccentric,  a  great  ladies'  man,  always  dressed  like  a 
Cupid  taken  out  of  a  band-box.  His  fights  with  his 
creditors  were  the  most  remarkable  part  of  his  history. 
One  time  he  emptied  the  contents  of  his  bath-tub  on 
the  head  of  his  creditor,  who  fled  in  terror,  never  to 
come  back  again.  At  another  time  he  threw  all  the 
wood  and  coal  of  his  huge  French  fireplace  on  several 
unfortunate  creditors  who  were  standing  in  the  court 
yard  attempting  to  gain  admittance,  and  refusing  to 
leave  without  some  kind  of  satisfaction,  which  they  got 
at  last  in  the  shape  of  burning  coals  on  their  heads. 
But  Koger  was  a  genius,  and  always  managed  by  an 


246          Wits  and  Women  of  Paris. 

invitation  to  a  supper  party  to  silence  his  creditors, 
promising  that  they  should  have  the  honor  to  hear  and 
see  the  male  and  female  celebrities  of  the  day. 

Samson,  another  of  this  trinity  of  wits,  was  an  actor 
and  a  teacher  of  the  great  Kachel.  He  was  an  excellent 
man,  highly  respected,  and  his  decision  in  all  theatri 
cal  matters  was  law.  He  always  reminded  me  of  a 
passage  from  Ben  Jonson  descriptive  of  a  town  wit — 
"  Alas !  Sir  Horace  is  a  mere  sponge ;  nothing  but 
humors  and  observations,  he  goes  up  and  down  suck 
ing  from  every  society,  and  when  he  comes  home, 
squeezes  himself  dry  again.  He  will  tell  all  he 
knows.  He  would  sooner  lose  his  best  friend  than 
his  best  jest.J' 

But  Samson  was  an  amiable  jester,  and  always 
inclined  to  the  good-natured  side  of  human  nature. 
In  this  respect  he  was  a  great  and  happy  contrast  to 
another  celebrated  person  I  used  to  meet  with,  Jules 
Janin,  the  malicious  and  caustic  critic  of  the  "  Journal 
des  Debate"  Samson  used  to  call  him  the  execu 
tioner,  and  he  bore  another  name,  "the  guillotinist  of 


Wits  and  Women  of  Paris.          247 

artists."  Every  one  feared  him,  and  everybody  was 
particularly  civil  to  him  through  fear.  I  do  not  know 
(his  wife  not  excepted),  of  any  one  that  loves  him  in 
all  Paris.  The  charming  Countess  de  Merlain,  a  lite 
rary  woman  herself,  and  whose  saloons  were  ever 
crowded  by  talent  and  genius,  always  said  of  him  that 
whenever  he  entered  her  presence  she  had  after  each 
visit  one  grey  hair  the  more. 

But  there  is  no  doubt  of  his  ability  as  a  critic  and 
translator ;  he  always  appeared  as  if  he  were  locked 
up,  lest  the  world  should  see  into  his  heart.  But  he 
has  great  power  in  his  way  in  Paris,  a  competent  critic 
in  art  being  always  a  great  man  there.  Love  of  art  is 
a  distinctive  trait  of  the  French  nation.  In  fact  you 
see  art  in  everything  there.  The  cook  is  an  artist, 
who  compounds  his  flavors  with  as  nice  a  respect  to 
science,  as  does  the  painter  in  combining  his  colors. 
The  French  woman  is  an  artiste  in  the  selection  of  her 
toilette  ;  and  even  the  youth  who  arranges  Cashmere 
shawls,  laces,  or  what  not,  in  a  shop  window,  shows  the 
artistic  feeling  also.  It  will  not  perhaps  be  a  matter 


248          Wits  and  Women  of  Paris. 

of  indifference  to  ladies  to  know  that  the  celebrated 
Mons.  Constatin  (a  Portuguese  nobleman  in  exile), 
celebrated  for  his  artificial  flowers,  of  which  there  ia 
no  equal,  is  so  particular  about  his  finest  specirrens 
that  he  has  the  real  flower  put  into  a  glass  of  water  and 
the  imitated  one  by  its  side  in  another,  and  the  young 
ladies  employed  in  its  manufacture  are  all  made  to  say 
which  is  the  real  and  which  the  artificial ;  should  one 
of  them  tell  the  difference,  the  flower  is  destroyed  and 
recommenced  over  again.  In  fact,  everything  is  art 
in  Paris.  There  are  artists  in  coat-making  (other 
wheres  called  tailors)  ;  artists  in  shoemaking ;  artists  in 
hair ;  and  even  I  remember  one  day  seeing  on  a  little 
sign-board  "  artist  in  blacking  boots." 

One  of  the  most  remarkable  and  the  most  noted 
persons  to  be  met  with  in  Paris  is  Madame  Dudevant, 
commonly  known  as  Georges  Sand.  She  is  now  about 
fifty  years  of  age  (it  is  no  crime  to  speak  of  the  age  of 
a  woman  of  her  genius),  a  large,  masculine,  coarse-fea 
tured  woman,  but  with  fine  eyes,  and  open,  easy 
frank,  and  hearty  in  her  manner  to  friends.  To  a  dis- 


Wits  and  Women  of  Paris.          249 

cerning  mind  her  writings  will  convey  a  correct  idea 
of  the  woman.  You  meet  her  everywhere  dressed  in 
men's  clothes — a  custom  which  she  adopts  from  no 
mere  caprice  or  waywardness  of  character,  but  for  the 
reason  that  in  this  garb  she  is  enabled  to  go  where  she 
pleases  without  exciting  curiosity,  and  seeing  and 
hearing  what  is  most  useful  and  essential  for  her  in 
writing  her  books.  She  is  undoubtedly  the  most  mas 
culine  mind  of  France  at  the  present  day. 

Through  the  folly  of  her  relations  she  was  early 
married  to  a  fool,  but  she  soon  left  him  in  disgust,  and 
afterwards  formed  a  friendship  with  Jules  Sandeau,  a 
novelist  and  clever  critic.  It  was  he  who  discovered 
her  genius,  and  first  caused  her  to  write.  It  was  the 
name  of  this  author,  Jules  Sandeau,  that  she  altered 
into  George  Sand,  a  name  which  she  has  made  im 
mortal. 

Georges  Sand  in  company  is  silent,  and  except  when 
the  conversation  touches  a  sympathetic  cord  in  her 
nature,  little  given  to  demonstration.  Then  she  will  talk 
earnestly  on  great  matters,  generally  on  Philosophy 


250          Wits  and  Women  of  Paris. 

or  Theology,  but  in  vain  will  you  seek  to  draw 
lier  into  conversation  on  the  little  matters  of  ordinary 
chit-chat.  She  lives  in  a  small  circle  of  friends,  where 
she  can  say  and  do  as  she  pleases.  Her  son  is  a  poor 
weak-brained  creature,  perpetually  annoying  the  whole 
neighborhood,  by  beating  on  a  huge  drum  night  and 
day.  She  has  a  daughter  married  to  Chlessindur,  the 
celebrated  sculptor— but  who  resembles  but  little  her 
talented  mother.  Madame  Georges  Sand  has  had  a 
life  of  wild  storms,  with  few  rays  of  sunshine  to 
brighten  her  pathway ;  and  like  most  of  the  reformers 
of  the  present  day,  especially  if  it  is  her  misfortune 
to  be  a  woman,  is  a  target  placed  in  a  conspicuous 
position  to  be  shot  at  by  all  dark  unenlightened  human 
beings,  who  may  have  peculiar  motives  for  restraining 
the  progress  of  mind ;  but  it  is  as  absurd  in  this  glorious 
nineteenth  century,  to  attempt  to  destroy  freedom  of 
thought,  and  the  sovereignty  of  the  individual,  as  it 
is  to  stop  the  falls  of  Niagara. 

There   was   a  gifted   and   fashionable    lady    (the 
Countess  of  Agout),  herself  an  accomplished  authoress, 


Wits  and  Women  of  Paris.          251 

concerning  whom  and  Georges  Sand  a  curious  story 
is  told.  They  were  great  friends,  and  the  celebrated 
pianist  Liszt  was  the  admirer  of  .both.  Things  went 
on  smoothly  for  some  time,  all  couleur  de  rose  ;  when 
one  fine  day  Liszt  and  G-eorges  Sand  disappeared  sud 
denly  from  Paris,  having  taken  it  into  their  heads  to 
make  the  tour  of  Switzerland  for  the  summer  together. 
Great  was  the  indignation  of  the  fair  Countess  at  this 
double  desertion ;  and  when  they  returned  to  Paris, 
Madame  d'Agout  went  to  Georges  Sand  and  imme 
diately  challenged  the  great  writer  to  a  duel,  the 
weapons  to  be  finger-nails,  etc.  Poor  Liszt  ran  out  of 
the  room  and  locked  himself  up  in  a  dark  closet 
till  the  deadly  affray  was  ended,  and  then  made  his 
body  over  in  charge  to  a  friend,  to  be  preserved,  as  he 
said,  for  the  remaining  assailant. 

Madarn^  d'Agout  was  married  to  an  old  man,  a 
book- worm,  who  cared  for  naught  else  but  his  Li 
brary  ;  he  did  not  know  even  the  number  of  children 
he  possessed,  and  so  little  the  old  philosopher  cared 
about  the  matter  that  when  a  stranger  came  to  the 


252          Wits  and  Women  of  Paris. 

house,  lie  invariably,  at  the  appearance  of  the  family, 
said,  ' '  Allow  me  to  present  to  yon  my  wife's  children , ' ' 
all  this  with  the  blandest  smile  and  most  contented 
air. 

I  once  asked  Georges  Sand  which  she  thought  the 
greatest  pianist,  Liszt  or  Thalberg ;  she  replied  Liszt  is 
the  first,  but  there  is  only  one  Thalberg.  If  I  were 
to  attempt  to  give  you  an  idea  of  the  difference  between 
Liszt  and  Thalberg,  I  should  say  that  Thalberg  is  like 
the  clear,  placid  flow  of  a  deep  grand  river — while 
Liszt  is  the  same  tide  foaming,  and  bubbling,  and  dash 
ing  on  like  a  cataract.  If  Liszt  were  to  come  to  this 
country,  he  would  raise  a  furore,  as  he  did  in  Hun 
gary, — where  the  gallant  Hungarians,  beside  them 
selves  with  admiration,  presented  the  piano-forte 
player  with  a  handsome  sword ;  forgetting  the  ridi 
cule  of  a  weapon  of  destruction  in  hands  that  never 
destroyed  or  fought  anything  else  but  a  piano-forte. 

Now  to  return  a  moment  to  Georges  Sand.  The 
stories  of  her  indelicate  eccentricities,  so  freely  circu 
lated  in  the  press  of  the  United  States,  are  perfect 


Wits  and  Women  of  Paris.  253 

fabrications.  She  is  a  large-brained  and  large-hearted 
woman,  conscious  of  her  own  strength,  and  therefore 
independent  in  her  opinions.  All  the  absurd  tales  about 
this  great-minded  woman,  are  probably  not  so  much 
intended  by  those  that  invented  them  for  malice,  as 
for  the  sake  of  making  some  interesting  gossiping 
paragraph  about  this  celebrated  woman. 

I  am  happy  that  there  was  one  American  author,  the 
late  lamented  Margaret  Fuller,  who  had  not  only  the 
intellect  to  rightly  understand  her,  but  the  courage 
to  defend  her. 

In  Paris  literary  people  and  artists  form  a  distinct 
society  of  their  own,  where  others  find  it  sometimes 
impossible  to  enter.  "What  need  Georges  Sand  care 
for  the  artificial,  and  I  may  add  the  hypocritical  pre 
tensions  of  what  calls  itself  par  excellence  society? 
When  that  society  has  all  vanished  like  a  vapor, 
when  not  a  vestige  is  left  of  it,  she  will  still  live  in  the 
memory  and  the  admiration  of  posterity. 

The  incidents  of  her  life  which  have  furnished  food 
for  siliy  people  and  lovers  of  scandal,  will  be  forgotten, 


254          Wits  and  Women  of  Paris. 

and  the  light  of  her  genius  will  shine  in  the  circles 
that  shall  gather  around  thousands  of  hearths  in  every 
country. 

Georges  Sand  gives  a  laughable  account  of  an  old, 
shrivelled,  and  miserable-looking  piece  of  parchment 
in  the  shape  of  a  Countess,  who  came  hobbling  into  a 
company  in  the  cholera  time,  smelling  something  from 
a  good-sized  bottle  and  exclaiming : — "  Oh,  this  is  very 
dreadful,  the  cholera  is  making  frightful  progress." 
It  was  all  very  well  when  the  people  only  were 
attacked.  They  were  justly  punished  for  their  sins, 
and  their  provoking  insolence.  But  the  matter  is 
really  now  becoming  more  alarming.  The  disease  is 
beginning  to  invade  the  ranks  of  society.  Monsieur 

Le  Marquis  B was  carried  off  this  morning ;  he 

died  a  beautiful  death!" 

The  thing  to  be  noticed  in  this  anecdote  is  the  dis 
tinction  made  between  the  people  and  society ;  and  I 
think  you  will  agree  with  me  that  persons  who  are 
received  and  respected  by  the  former,  need  not  bother 
themselves  much  about  the  latter. 


Wits  and  Women  of  Paris.          255 

I  have  occasionally  met  Kachel  in  the  company  of 
literary  people  and  artists  in  Paris,  but  she  was  never 
a  feature,  never  even  a  prominent  member  of  such  a 
party.  As  she  loved  nothing  but  money,  nothing  else 
appeared  to  love  her.  She  had  no  talent  for  conversa 
tion.  She  had  indeed  but  one  gift,  that  of  delivery — 
of  concentrated  mimicry,  in  which  she  was  unsurpassed. 

Lamartine  I  have  often  met  on  business,  but  not  in 
company.  He  seldom  goes  anywhere.  He  is  a  dreary, 
lonely  man,  who  shuns  crowds,  and  isolates  himself  in 
a  beautiful  world  of  his  own.  His  wife  is  an  English 
woman,  who  has  small  sympathy  with  the  French 
manners,  which  fact  may  further  contribute  to  keep 
ing  him  from  the  world;  and  besides  he  has  not 
recovered  and  never  will,  the  death  of  his  only  child, 
a  sweet  young  thing  fifteen  years  old,  who  died  in 
Syria  of  consumption. 

In  this  connexion  I  may  name  old  Professor  Tissot 
of  the  French  Academy,  and  the  oldest  Academician  in 
France.  The  scientific  world  is  as  familiar  with  his 
name  as  with  the  name  of  science  itself.  He  is  a  rem- 


256          Wits  and  Women  of  Paris. 

nant  of  dead  France ;  a  guide-book  through  all  the 
labyrinths  of  its  revolutions,  and  scenes  of  blood.  He 
witnessed  the  reign  of  terror,  the  execution  of  Madame 
Roland,  and  that  of  Charlotte  Corday,  and  the  fall  and 
death  of  Robespierre.  He  was  an  intimate  friend  of 
Madame  de  Stael,  was  a  spectator  of  the  accession  of 
the  Empire,  of  the  downfall  of  the  Empire,  of  the 
restoration  of  the  Bourbons,  of  the  downfall  of  the 
Bourbons,  of  the  accession  of  the  younger  branch  of 
the  house  of  Orleans,  of  its  downfall,  and  of  the 
return  of  the  Bonapartes. 

He  it  was  that  furnished  Lamartine  with  much  of 
his  materials  for  his  "History  of  the  Girondins." 
He  wanders  about  Paris,  pointing  out  the  places  of 
the  past,  showing  you  where  Danton,  Robespierre, 
Marat,  and  Mirabeau  lived,  and  where  all  the  horrors 
of  the  reign  of  terror  took  place.  He  comes  some 
times  among  his  friends  and  relates  his  tales  of  horror. 
The  old  man  could  not  be  satisfied  with  living  in  any 
decently  named  street  of  the  present  day,  but  has 
resided  with  his  old  wife  in  the  ancient  part  of  Paris, 


Wits  and  Women  of  Paris.          257 

giving  his  address  Professor  Tissot,  rue  de  1'Enfei 
(Hell  street). 

The  old  man  is  much  esteemed  by  the  students,  and 
though  pensioned  by  government,  still  lectures  to  his 
pupils.  Such  another  relic  of  past  events  I  venture 
to  say  does  not  exist  in  the  world. 

I  have  now  sketched  my  impressions  of  some  of 
the  really  celebrated  literary  people  and  artists  with 
whom  I  have  a  personal  acquaintance,  but  had  almost 
forgotten  one  who  never  will  be  forgotten  in  the 
hearts  of  the  reading  people  throughout  the  world, 
and  who  has  lately  gone  to  his  rest.  You  will  at  once 
know  that  I  am  speaking  of  Eugene  Sue.  His  courage 
in  avowing  his  opinions  in  the  face  of  whatever  oppo 
sition,  and  even  of  threats,  marks  him  as  one  of  the 
great  heroes  of  the  age.  He  was  an  honest,  sincere, 
truth-loving  man;  and  it  will  be  long  before  Paris 
can  fill  the  place  which  death  has  made  vacant. 

I  have  something  more  to  say  of  the  social  and 
moral  aspects  of  life  in  Paris,  which  impressed  me  as 
being  not  essentially  different  from  life  in  the  other 


2j8  Wits  and  Women  of  Paris. 

capitals  of  the  civilized  world,  except  in  its  disuse  of 
masks  and  false  pretensions.  Vice  has  got  an  ugly 
fashion  of  going  naked  in  Paris,  while  in  London  and 
New  York  it  dresses  itself  up  in  garments  of  respect 
ability,  if  not  of  absolute  piety,  and  so  disguises  and 
hides  itself,  that  externally  it  ceases  to  be  apparent. 
But  after  all  that  has  been  said  about  the  immoralities 
of  Paris,  the  difference  between  that  city  and  London 
and  New  York  is  more  in  appearance  than  in  reality. 
In  attempting  a  sketch  of  social  life  in  the  French 
capital,  I  am  obliged  to  speak  of  the  women,  because 
I  do  not  suppose  that  any  one  expects  any  particular 
amount  of  morality  among  the  men.  There  is  no 
city  where  young  girls  are  so  entirely  protected  from 
every  temptation  as  in  Paris.  The  treatment  of  young 
unmarried  women  there  is  entirely  Oriental.  They  are 
watched  by  mothers  with  extremest  care,  not  only  be 
cause  it  is  believed  to  be  right  as  a  principle,  but  because 
no  young  lady  has  the  least  prospect  of  a  respectable 
marriage,  if  the  idea  gets  abroad  that  this  watchfulness 
has  been  for  a  single  moment  relaxed.  A  mother  whc 


Wits  and  Women  of  Paris.  259 

should  allow  her  daughter  to  walk  out  alone  but  once 
with  a  young  man,  is  regarded  as  having  disgraced 
her  child,  and  the  poor  girl  is  immediately  pointed  at. 
Even  after  the  marriage  contract  is  signed,  they  are 
allowed  but  little  liberty  of  intercourse,  and  never  see 
each  other  except  in  the  presence  of  others.  They  sit 
at  opposite  sides  of  the  room,  and  any  show  of  affec 
tion  would  be  considered  not  only  ridiculous  but  ill- 
bred.  As  one  extreme  follows  another,  the  French 
ladies,  when  once  they  are  emancipated  by  marriage 
(and  marriage  in  France  in  the  fashionable  world  is  a 
complete  emancipation  from  restraint),  make  up  for 
lost  time.  The  wife  in  Paris  is  as  free  as  the  girl  is 
restrained.  You  must  understand  that  nine-tenths 
of  all  marriages  are  brought  about  by  calculation  and 
reason,  and  not  at  all  by  affection.  Marriage  there  is 
not  a  union  of  persons,  but  a  union  of  properties  or 
of  worldly  interests.  A  wealthy  person  went  to  a 
banker  and  sa^d,  "I  want  to  marry  your  daughter; 
here  are  the  title-deeds  of  my  estates."  Nothing  more 
was  requisite,  the  match  was  sealed,  and  the  daughter. 


260          Wits  and  Women  of  Pans. 

rejoicing  in  the  marriage  trousseau,  was  transferred  tc 
the  purchaser.  Generally  speaking,  however,  it  is  the 
young  lady  who  has  to  buy  the  husband.  I  have 
read  of  a  peasant  who  was  about  to  lead  to  the  altar 
a  young  bride,  all  blushes  and  muslin,  when  her  father 
observed:  "Now  I  think  of  it,  I  must  remind  you 
that  the  great  cherry-tree  in  the  orchard  remains 
mine."  "No,"  said  the  bridegroom,  "it  must  be 
mine."  "No,"  said  the  father,  "it  remains  mine." 
"Well  then,"  said  the  bridegroom,  "I  will  not  marry 
your  daughter."  And  so  the  ceremony  was  stopped. 
But  I  have  heard  a  still  more  laughable  story.  A 
washerwoman  had  betrothed  her  daughter,  a  girl  of 
fifteen  years  old,  to  a  barber,  and  promised  to  give 
her  a  dowry  of  five  hundred  francs.  The  day  before 
the  marriage,  the  girl  came  to  the  shop  and  peeped  in 
at  the  door,  saying,  "  Mother  says  she  has  changed 
her  mind  about  the  dowry."  The  barber,  who  had 
the  nose  of  one  of  his  customers  between  his  thumb 
and  finger,  looked  over  his  shoulder  and  replied, 
"You  are  joking."  "No,"  said  the  bride  apparent. 


Wits  and  Women  of  Paris.          261 

"  mother  wants  the  money  herself."  "  Then  tell  her/' 
said  the  barber,  making  a  gash  on  his  victim's  chinj 
"  that  I  sha'n't  marry  you."  This  may  appear  an 
exaggeration,  but  it  is  not  so.  It  is  quite  common  to 
hear  of  marriages  being  broken  off  in  Paris  on  this 
account.  What  is  marriage  worth  under  such  .cir 
cumstances?  What  protection  is  marriage  to  a  wo 
man  where  her  heart  is  not  the  object  of  the  alliance  ? 
It  is  undoubtedly  true  that  comparatively  few  mar 
riages  remain  long  undisturbed  in  Paris.  Woman  is 
possessed  with  a  higher  and  holier  feeling  than  the 
mere  selfish  disposition  of  her  person.  The  reason 
why  the  works  of  Georges  Sand  have  had  great  in 
fluence,  is  because  they  correspond  with  the  state  of 
female  public  opinion.  She  did  not  invent,  but  she 
drew  attention  to  existing  grounds  of  complaint. 
The  French  women  have  wept  over  "Indiana,"  and 
read  "  Consuelo"  with  approving  heart. 

If  the  wives  of  Paris  are  accused  of  intrigues,  it  is 
because  marriage  is  less  an  affair  of  the  heart  than 
the  purse.  The  French  woman  is  naturally  intelli- 


262  Wits  and  -Women  of  Paris. 

gent,  and  consequently  seeks  for  intelligence  in  those 
around  her.  In  England  you  hear  of  young  ladies 
eloping  with  their  fathers'  footmen,  and  in  America 
a  lady  may  be  captivated  in  the  same  way ;  but  in 
France,  a  woman  never  intrigues  with  those  in  inferior 
position  to  herself. 

The  great  evil  of  Paris  is  that  there  is  no  such  insti 
tution  there  as  Home ;  as  a  general  fact  that  sanctifier 
of  the  heart — that  best  shelter  and  friend  of  woman — 
that  beautiful  feeling  called  "  Home  " — does  not  exist. 
The  nearest  approach  to  this  deplorable  state  of  things 
is  found  among  the  business  people  of  the  United 
States.  I  have  noticed  this  particularly  in  New  York, 
where  the  merchant  is  never  at  home,  except  to  sleep, 
and  even  then  his  brain  is  so  racked  with  per  cents, 
advances,  or  depressions  in  prices,  the  rise  and  fall  of 
stocks,  &c.,  that  he  brings  no  fond  affection  to  his 
family.  The  husband's  brain  is  a  ledger,  and  his 
heart  a  counting-room.  And  where  is  woman  to  find 
in  all  this  the  response  to  a  heart  overflowing  with 
affection  ?  And  this  is  as  true  in  New  York  as  in  Paris. 


Wits  and  Women  of  Paris.          263 

Indeed,  as  for  intrigues,  New  York  may  almost  rival 
Paris.  There  is  no  country  where  the  women  are 
more  fond  of  dress  and  finery  than  the  United  States, 
and  history  shows  us  that  there  is  no  such  depraver 
of  women  as  this  vanity.  A  hundred  women  stumble 
over  that  block  of  vanity,  where  one  falls  by  any 
other  cause.  And  if  the  insane  mania  for  dress  and 
show  does  not  end  in  a  general  decay  of  female 
morals,  then  the  lessons  of  history  and  the  experience 
of  all  ages  must  go  for  naught. 

Georges  Sand  relates  an  instance  of  having  seen  a 
blooming  beauty  wandering  along  the  streets  of  Paris, 
where  she  was  accosted  by  a  young  student,  who  said, 
"Where  are  you  going?"  She  replied,  "Nowhere." 
"  Then,"  said  he,  "  as  we  are  both  bound  for  the  same 
place,  we  will  both  go  together."  Alas,  there  are  so 
many  young  women  in  Paris  who  are  going  "no 
where,"  and  there  are  so  many  foolish  young  men  to 
go  with  them.  How  many  of  those  girls  that  go  "  no-  . 
where,"  who  would  have  been  types  of  noble,  indus 
trious,  frugal  women,  are  fallen  down  and  run  over 


264          Wits  and  Women  of  Paris. 

by  the  waysides  of  life,  without  one  good  Samaritan 
to  lift  them  up  again,  and  to  tell  them  that  we  have 
all  to  live  to  go — somewhere. 

It  is  well  known  to  those  who  have  read  Sterne, 
that  when  the  accusing  spirit  flew  up  to  Heaven,  with 
Uncle  Toby's  sin,  the  recording  angel,  as  he  wrote  it 
down,  dropped  a  tear  upon  it,  and  blotted  it  out  for 
ever. 

If  there  be  yet  another  tear  in  Heaven,  I  pray  that 
it  may  be  shed  upon  the  spot  that  records  the  sins  of 
Paris. 


ROMANISM. 


12 


ROMANISM. 


I  KNOW  not  that  history  has  anything  more  won 
derful  to  show  than  the  part  which  the  Catholic 
Church  has  borne  in  the  various  civilizations  of  the 
world. 

What  a  marvellous  structure  it  is,  with  its  hier 
archy  ranging  through  long  centuries,  almost  from 
apostolic  days  to  our  own ;  living  side  by  side  with 
forms  of  civilization  and  uncivilization,  the  most 
diverse  and  the  most  contradictory  through  all  the 
fifteen  hundred  years  and  more  of  its  existence; 
asserting  an  effective  control  over  opinions  and  insti 
tutions  ;  with  its  pontificate  (as  is  claimed)  dating  from 
the  fisherman  of  Galilee,  and  still  reigning  there  in 
the  city  that  heard  Saint  Peter  preach,  and  whom  it 


268  Romanism. 

saw  martyred;  impiously  pretending  to  sit  in  his 
chair  and  to  bear  his  keys ;  shaken,  exiled,  broken 
again  and  again  by  schism,  by  Lutheran  revolts  and 
French  revolutions;  yet  always  righting  itself,  and 
reasserting  a  vitality  that  neither  force  nor  opinion 
has  yet  been  able  to  extinguish.  Once  with  its  foot 
on  the  neck  of  kings,  and  having  the  fate  of  empires 
in  its  hands,  and  even  yet  superintending  the  grandest 
ecclesiastical  mechanism  that  man  ever  saw ;  ordering 
fast  days  and  feast  days,  and  regulating  with  Omnipo 
tent  fiat  the  very  diet  of  millions  of  people ;  having 
countless  bands  of  religious  soldiery  trained,  organ 
ized,  and  officered  as  such  a  soldiery  never  was 
before  nor  since  ;  and  backed  by  an  infallibility  that 
defies  reason,  an  inquisition  to  bend  or  break  the  will, 
and  a  confessional  to  unlock  all  hearts  and  master  the 
profoundest  secrets  of  all  consciences.  Such  has  been 
the  mighty  Church  of  Eome,  and  there  it  is  still,  cast 
down,  to  be  sure,  from  what  it  once  was,  but  not  yet 
destroyed ;  perplexed  by  the  variousness  and  freedom 
of  an  intellectual  civilization  which  it  hates  and 


Romanism.  269 

vainly  tries  to  crush;  laboriously  trying  to  adapt 
itself  to  the  Europe  of  the  nineteenth  century,  as  it 
once  did  to  the  Europe  of  the  twelfth ;  lengthening 
its  cords  and  strengthening  its  stakes,  enlarging  the 
place  of  its  tent,  and  stretching  forth  the  curtains  of 
its  habitations  even  to  this  Kepublic  of  the  New 
"World. 

Such  is  the  tremendous  fabric  of  Eome,  standing 
out  on  the  foreground  of  the  world's  history,  and 
bearing  upon  its  scarred  bosom  the  marks  of  the  vari 
ous  civilizations  and  barbarisms  through  which  it  has 


Eegarded  in  the  light  of  a  merely  human  institu 
tion,  it  is  worthy  of  the  profoundest  study  of  man ; 
but  the  moment  it  puts  in  a  claim  of  divine  origin 
and  appointment,  it  sinks  beneath  the  contempt  of 
human  reason.  If  it-comes  before  us  in  its  sacerdotal 
robes  and  bids  us  bow  our  faith  to  its  monstrous  pro 
fanities,  we  shake  it  from  us  and  cast  it  off  with  dis 
gust  and  horror;  but  in  its  human  aspects,  in  its 
moral  and  political  career,  we  will  look  fairly  at  it 


270  Romanism. 

and  inquire,  how  it  came  to  pass  that  an  institution 
so  loaded  with  the  crimes  and  groans  of  ages,  and 
stained  with  the  blood  of  martyrs,  and  fraught  with 
such  shocking  absurdities,  could  hold  on  so  long,  and 
play  the  part  it  has  in  the  history  of  the  world's  pro 
gress. 

It  will  not  do  to  dispose  of  this  question  by  simply 
saying  that  the  Catholic  Church  was  all  a  lie  and 
cheat  in  the  beginning  (a  lie  and  cheat  most  truly  it 
is  now,  as  most  other  institutions  of  barbarism  would 
be  if  transplanted  to  the  present  time),  nor  will  it  do 
to  call  its  origin  a  deliberate  scheme  for  usurping  the 
rights  of  mankind ;  for  it  was  not  that ;  it  was  as 
natural  a  growth  out  of  the  social,  moral,  and  political 
causes  operating  in  the  first  six  centuries  as  the  insti 
tutions  of  the  troubadours,  of  chivalry,  and  of  feud 
alism  were  of  the  ninth,  tenth,  and  eleventh  centuries. 

It  grew  up  slowly  and  naturally,  was  moulded 
into  its  ultimate  form  by  the  pressure  of  many  times, 
and  bears  the  marks  as  much  as  any  other  institu 
tion  of  the  various  ages  and  states  of  civilization  that 


Romanism.  271 

have  successively  been  cotemporaneous  with.  it.  1 
can  see  that  it  was  the  product  of  Christianity  coming 
in  contact  with  the  old  Pagan  modes  of  thought  and 
feeling,  which  at  that  time  had  full  possession  of  the 
Roman  world ;  its  doctrines  were  not  priestly  manu 
factures,  they  were  simply  the  expression  of  prevalent 
tendencies  of  the  Pagan  mind,  and  the  effect  of  gene 
ral  causes  in  the  moral  world. 

For  instance,  it  is  plain  enough  to  see  where  its 
image- worship  and  hero-worship  came  from ;  for,  far 
as  these  things  are  removed  from  the  spirit  and  pre 
cepts  of  Christ,  they  were  actually  wants  of  the  popu 
lar  mind,  trained  in  the  long  school  of  Paganism, 
and  familiar  with  the  picturesque  materialism  of  the 
Greek  philosophy.  Komanism  in  its  origin  was  a 
compromise  between  Christianism  and  Paganism,  by 
which  nearly  all  the  superstitions  and  immoralities 
of  the  latter  contrived  to  get  themselves  baptized 
with  the  Christian  name.  And  this  fatal  compro 
mise  was  the  work  of  the  people  more  than  of  the 
priest ;  thus  the  decision  of  the  Council  of  Ephesua 


272  Roman  ism 

(held  under  Pope  Celestine,  A.  D.  431),  that  it  should 
be  permitted  to  invoke  Mary  of  Nazareth  by  the 
style  and  title  of  "Mother  of  God,"  was  received  by 
the  people  out  of  doors  with  shouts  of  exultation; 
the  prelates  as  they  issued  from  the  synod  were 
saluted  with  every  expression  of  applause,  and  the 
victory  was  celebrated  by  a  general  illumination. 

The  doctrine  was  not  made  by  the  priests,  it  was 
made  for  them ;  forced  upon  them,  in  fact,  by  irresist 
ible  popular  sentiment ;  and  their  share  in  the  busi 
ness  was  little  more  than  to  register  the  act  of  the 
multitude.  The  confessional,  with  its  appended  pen 
ances,  the  purgatory  and  masses  for  the  dead,  the 
consecration  of  saintly  names  and  relics,  the  rise  of 
monasticism,  with  its  fasts  and  vigils,  were  all  the 
product  of  general  impulses  of  Pagan  feeling,  finding 
voice  and  expression  in  connexion  with  Christian 
ideas. 

So,  too,  the  dogmatizing  theology  of  Eome,  the 
iOng  creeds  fenced  by  short  and  sharp  anathemas, 
were  no  arbitrary  creation  of  the  early  priests,  but 


Romanism.  275 

were  a  result  of  that  taste  and  talent  for  theological 
syllogizing,  which  the  church  borrowed  from  the  sub 
tile  and  disputatious  Greek  mind.  In  fact,  the  whole 
thing  was  little  more  than  a  Christian  translation  of 
Paganism,  in  which,  by  a  sort  of  metempsychosis,  the 
soul  of  ancient  Greece  seemed  to  live  over  again. 

So,  after  all,  there  is  nothing  very  shocking  nor 
very  strange  in  the  rise  and  growth  of  this  vast  fabric 
of  Eome ;  it  rose  out  of  a  great  number  of  interests, 
or  intellectual  and  moral  wants  and  habits  embodied 
into  an  organized  institution  by  a  succession  of  power 
ful  minds,  themselves  partaking  of  these  varied  influ 
ences,  and  often  giving  expression  to  them  in  con 
nexion  with  the  most  vulgar  superstitions  of  the 
times. 

And  herein  lies  the  great  secret  of  the  strength  and 
success  of  Eome ;  in  its  perpetual  willingness  to  com 
pound  with  whatever  popular  vice  or  superstition, 
for  the  sake  of  unlimited  dominion  over  the  public 
mind.  By  this  means  it  has  acquired  a  fearful  con 
trol  over  opinions  and  institutions  during  the  fifteen 
12* 


274  Romanism. 

hundred  years  of  its  reign,  and  it  is  impossible  to  say 
how  far  the  providence  of  God  may  have  compel* 
led  the  vast  worldly  forces  of  this  Church  to  con 
tribute  to  the  general  safety  and  blessing  of  hu 
manity. 

"Who  shall  say  that  he  who  "  makes  the  wrath  of 
man  to  praise  him,"  did  not  also  make  this  stupen 
dous  power  subservient  to  his  will,  during  the  dark 
and  perilous  ages  of  the  past?  "Who  can  say  that  it 
was  not  a  great  thing  for  Europe,  during  the  centuries 
of  darkness  and  confusion  that  came  in  between  the 
downfall  of  the  Roman  Empire  and  the  revival  of 
law  and  settled  government,  to  have  such  a  Church ; 
a  power  professing  to  be  not  of  this  world,  and  declar 
ing  itself  greater  than  the  world;  reposing  upon 
ideas,  and  often  successfully  asserting  them,  in  oppo 
sition  to  the  brute  force  which  was  then  the  only  other 
great  European  power  ?  Who  can  say  that  it  was 
not  much  for  Europe  to  have  had  an  intellectual  and 
moral  power  like  that,  visibly  embodied,  and  fixed 
in  an  institution  which  could  not  be  moved  by  the 


Romanism.  275 

shocks  of  falling  states ;  a  power  winch  had  its  mis 
sionaries  out  in  the  far  north  of  Germany,  and  Anglo- 
Saxon  Brittany,  sowing  the  seeds  of  moral  dominion  ; 
which  could  interpose,  and  often  did  interpose,  be 
tween  oppression  and  its  yictim ;  proclaimed  truces  of 
Grod  to  the  ferocious  savagery  of  war ;  took  the  charge 
of  those  young  Italian  Eepublics,  which  otherwise 
must  have  been  crushed  between  jostling  kingdoms ; 
cherished  in  the  consecrated  asylum  of  its  abbeys 
and  monasteries,  germs  of  civilization,  which,  if  cast 
carelessly  out  on  the  embattled  elements,  would  have 
been  trodden  under  foot  of  contending  warriors ;  and 
kept  up  during  those  dark  ages,  an  action  upon  popu 
lar  sentiment  and  opinion,  which,  with  all  its  defects 
and  misdirections,  saved  the  world  from  falling  into 
utter  and  irredeemable  barbarism.  It  is  easy  to  say 
that  all  this  was  superstition  and  idolatry,  for  so  it 
was ;  but  it  was  infinitely  more  humanizing  than  the 
old  superstition  which  it  displaced,  giving  the  popular 
imagination  idols,  images,  that  were  types  not  of  its 
own  barbarism,  but  of  the  good  and  of  the  beautifully 


276  Romanism. 

true,  substituting  Holy  Families  for  Thor  and  Odin, 
and  the  Cross,  emblem  of  hope  to  mankind,  for  the 
beak  and  claw  of  the  Roman  eagle. 

This  much  history  compels  us  to  say  in  praise  of 
Eome.  We  cannot  deny  it  the  merit  of  having 
worked  well  during  those  terrible  ages.  So  long  as 
its  doctrines  and  ceremonies  expressed  the  highest 
ideas  that  benighted  men  had ;  so  long  as  it  was  in 
advance  of  the  average  intellect  and  heart  of  the 
ages ;  so  long  as  it  was  the  result  of  vital  organic 
growth,  and  not,  as  now,  of  dead  mechanical  pressure ; 
so  long  we  cheerfully  accord  it  the  merit  of  having 
done  the  best  it  could,  and  we  can  say  no  more 
for  it. 

Its  struggle  ever  since  has  been  to  drag  the  heart 
and  brain  of  man  backward  into  the  night  out  of 
which  it  came.  It  has  been  the  scourge  of  modern 
civilization,  obstinately  keeping  the  free  progressive 
spirit  of  man  locked  up  in  the  same  eternal  prison  of 
an  arbitrary  ritual,  and  an  artificial  creed,  containing 
dogmas  at  which  common  sense  revolts,  enforced  by 


Romanism.  277 

Anathemas  at  which  humanity  shudders ;  so  ordering 
things  that  there  could  be  no  change  or  progression, 
without  a  life  and  death  conflict;  compelling  the 
spirit  of  reform  to  be  revolutionary ;  giving  Europe 
a  whole  century  of  Eeligious  war ;  and  bequeathing 
to  European  civilization  a  spirit  of  intolerance, 
tyranny,  and  fiery  denunciation,  which,  but  for  the 
presence  of  a  spirit  stronger  than  itself,  would  have 
left  the  world  at  this  time  as  far  from  Chistianity  and 
Christian  civilization,  as  in  the  days  of  Hildebrand 
and  Innocent  the  Third. 

The  only  wonder  is  that  such  a  church  should  be 
able  to  push  its  fortunes  so  far  into  the  centre  of 
modern  civilization,  with  which  it  can  feel  no  sym 
pathy,  and  which  it  only  embraces  to  destroy.  I 
confess  I  find  it  difficult  to  believe  that  a  total  lie 
could  administer  comfort  and  aid  to  so  many  millions 
of  souls ;  and  the  explanation  is,  no  doubt,  that  it  is 
not  a  total  lie ;  for  even  its  worse  doctrines  are 
founded  on  certain  great  truths  which  are  accepted 
by  the  common  heart  of  humanity.  They  are,  as  we 


278  Romanism. 

may  say,  caricatures  of  truths  which  seize  the  vulgai 
imagination  with  a  powerful  grasp,  and  cause  it  to  be 
enchanted  with  the  very  slavery  they  impose.  Take 
for  instance  its  doctrines  of  universality,  infallibility,  and 
apostolic  succession,  and  we  find  that  they  are  all  simply 
exaggerations  or  caricatures  of  great  Christian  truths. 
There  is  such  a  thing  as  universal  truth,  and  there 
is  such  a  thing  as  Apostolic  succession,  made  not  by 
Edicts,  Bulls,  and  Church  Canons,  but  by  an  interior 
life  divine  and  true.  But  all  these  Kome  has  per 
verted,  by  hardening  the  diffusive  spirit  of  truth  into 
so  much  mechanism  cast  into  a  mould  in  which  it 
has  been  forcibly  kept ;  and  by  getting  progressively 
falser  and  falser,  as  the  world  has  got  older  and  wiser, 
till  the  universality  became  only  another  name  for  a 
narrow  and  intolerant  sectism,  while  the  infallibility 
committed  itself  to  absurdity  after  absurdity,  at  which 
reason  turns  giddy,  and  faith  has  no  resource  but  to 
shut  her  eyes ;  and  the  Apostolic  succession  became 
narrowed  down  into  a  mere  dynasty  of  Priests  and 
Pontiffs.  A  hierarchy  of  magicians,  saving  souls  by 


Romanism.  ^79 

machinery,  opening  and  shutting  the  kingdom  of 
heaven  by  a  sesame  of  incantations  which  it  would 
have  been  the  labor  of  a  lifetime  to  make  so  much 
as  intelligible  to  St.  Peter  or  St.  Paul. 

In  this  abyss  of  superstition  and  moral  pollution, 
when  the  voice  of  Luther  came  upon  it  like  thunder  ; 
when  priests  and  monks  had  taken  to  sell  salvation 
on  slips  of  paper  or  parchment ;  when  heaven,  salva 
tion,  the  grace  of  God,  were  made  marketable  com 
modities,  priced  and  ticketed,  bought  and  sold,  till 
thinking  men  began  to  doubt  whether  there  really 
could  be  any  heaven  at  all ;  it  was  time  for  the  spirit 
of  God  that  was  in  man  to  speak  out  against  that 
hierarchy  of  priests  who  were  preying  on  the  credulity 
of  .mankind.  This  was  the  spirit  and  power  of  the 
Lutheran  protest  against  Eome.  It  was  not  creed 
against  creed,  it  was  not  creed  at  all  in  the  beginning ; 
it  was  reality  against  formalism,  the  prophet  against 
the  priest.  It  was  not  so  much  the  casting  off  of 
theological  absurdities,  as  it  was  the  uprising  of  the 
human  heart  against  ecclesiastical  immoralities. 


280  Romanism. 

So  with  the  immoral  but  very  profitable  traffic  which 
Rome  carried  on  with  relics  of  the  dead.  It  cunningly 
seized  upon  one  of  the  strongest  cords  of  human 
nature;  for  although  we  call  it  superstition,  yet  is 
there  a  profound  feeling  at  the  bottom  of  this  venera 
tion  for  relics.  How  oft  have  we  wept  with  affection 
over  a  lock  of  hair,  or  some  such  dear  memento  of  a 
departed  friend?  With  what  loving  devotion  the 
heart  clings  to  the  slightest  thing  that  brings  back  to 
us  a  name  hallowed  in  our  affections  ?  The  shirt  in 
which  Henri  IY.  of  France  received  the  dagger  of 
Ravaillac  is  still  preserved  and  exhibited  to  the  admir 
ing  patriot.  The  friends  of  Nelson  preserve  the  coat 
in  which  he  fell  at  Trafalgar.  And  so  the  patriotic 
American  will  perform  his  pilgrimage  to  the  old 
Stone  House  at  Newburgh,  once  the  head-quarters  of 
"Washington,  filled  with  sacred  mementos  of  the  Revo 
lution  ;  and  how  do  your  people  bend  with  affection 
and  emotion  over  the  immortal  tomb  at  Mount  Yer- 
non  !  The  feeling  to  which  these  things  appeal  is  one 
of  the  deepest  and  holiest  of  human  nature,  and  it  has 


Romanism.  281 

oeen  successfully  used  by  Eome  to  rob  the  poor  and 
enchant  the  human  heart  with  its  pretensions.  The 
mind  turns  away  with  disgust  from  the  monstrous 
impostures  which  it  has  practised  in  the  traffic  of 
relics.  Lord  Oxford  mentions  having  seen  for  sale  at 
a  small  town  in  Italy,  among  other  relics,  a  finger  nail 
from  the  hand  of  St.  Peter,  a  bit  of  the  worm  that 
never  dies,  preserved  in  spirits,  a  quill  from  the  cock 
that  crew  at  the  crucifixion,  and  the  chemise  of  the 
Holy  Virgin.  His  lordship  says:  "The  good  man 
that  showed  us  all  these  commodities  was  got  in  such 
a  train  of  calling  them  the  blessed  this,  and  the  blessed 
that,  that  at  last  he  showed  us  a  '  bit  of  the  blessed 
fig-tree  that  Christ  cursed.'  " 

There  was  a  time  when  the  Bishop  of  TreVes,  like 
Leo.  X.,  wanted  money  for  the  completion  of  his 
cathedral.  That  church  possessed  a  relic,  the  coat 
without  seam  worn  by  our  Saviour.  This  the  bishop 
determined  should  be  the  "  golden  fleece"  of  Treves. 
He  summoned  pilgrims  to  pay  their  veneration  to  the 
garment,  and  with  magnanimous  audacity,  founded 


282  Romanism. 

the  pilgrimage  on  the  bull  of  Leo.  X.  in  1514.  That 
bull  promised  "  a  full  remission  of  sins  in  all  future 
times  to  all  believers  who  go  in  pilgrimage  to  the 
exhibition  of  the  Holy  Coat  at  Treves,  sincerely  con 
fess  and  repent  of  their  sins,  or  at  least  have  a  firm 
intention  to  do  so,  and  moreover  contribute  largely  to 
the  decoration  of  the  Cathedral  at  Troves."  A  million 
and  a  half  of  people  obeyed  this  call  in  six  weeks, 
and  the  deluded  multitude  were  heard  on  bended  knees 
to  say,  "  Holy  Coat,  to  thee  I  come ;  Holy  Coat,  to 
thee  I  pray  ;  Holy  Coat,  pray  for  me." 

Now  who  shall  compute  the  stupifying  and  brutal 
izing  effects  of  such  a  religion  ?  "Who  will  dare  say 
that  a  principle  which  so  debases  reason  is  not  like 
bands  of  iron  around  the  expanding  heart  and  strug 
gling  limbs  of  modern  freedom  ?  Who  will  dare  tell 
me  that  this  terrible  Church  does  not  lie  upon  the 
bosom  of  the  present  time  like  a  vast  unwieldy  and 
offensive  corpse,  crushing  the  life-blood  out  of  the 
body  of  modern  civilization  ?  It  is  not  as  a  religious 
creed  that  we  are  looking  at  this  thing;  it  is  not  for  its 


Romanism.  283 

theological  sins  that  we  are  here  to  condemn  it ;  but  it 
is  its  effect  upon  civilization  and  upon  political  and 
social  freedom  that  we  are  discussing.  "What  must  be 
the  ultimate  political  night  that  settles  upon  a  people 
who  are  without  individuality  of  opinions  and  inde 
pendence  of  will,  and  whose  brains  are  made  tools  of 
in  the  hands  of  a  clan  or  an  order  I  Look  out  there  into 
that  sad  Europe,  and  see  it  all !  See,  there,  how  the 
Catholic  element  everywhere  marks  itself  with  night, 
and  drags  the  soul,  and  energies,  and  freedom  of  the 
people  backwards  and  downwards  into  political  and 
social  inaction — into  unfathomable  quagmires  of  death  I 

You  see  it  upon  the  soil,  upon  commerce,  upon 
trade,  upon  industry,  upon  every  resource  of  national 
greatness,  upon  the  very  face  of  the  people,  where 
submission  and  ignorance  sit  enthroned  over  the 
crushed  and  degraded  intellect.  In  all  Catholic  coun 
tries  on  the  face  of  the  globe  the  jail  is  greater  than 
the  school-house — the  hospital  for  the  infirm,  than  the* 
means  of  self-support  and  self-respect. 

Look  for  instance  at  Catholic  and  Prokstant  Ger- 


284  Romanism. 

many.  The  quick  eye  of  Mirabeau  saw  the  great 
disparity.  He  said,  "  The  want  of  knowledge  and 
industry  of  Catholic  Germany  must  be  attributed  to 
the  bigotry  which  in  those  superb  countries  sways 
both  government  and  people.  Festivals,  processions, 
pilgrimages,  mummery,  render  the  latter  idle,  stupid, 
and  careless.  The  sway  of  the  priests  renders  them 
ignorant,  despotic,  cruel,  and  above  all,  implacably 
inimical  to  everything  that  might  enlighten  the  human 
mind.  These  two  causes  are  eternally  destructive  of 
all  human  knowledge,  and  the  ruin  of  knowledge 
brings  on  that  of  commerce  and  industry." 

The  Dictionnaire  de  la  Conversation  says :  "  The  way 
of  the  Austrian  government  has  ever  been  to  insure 
the  strengthening  and  development  of  the  statu  quo." 
There  is  neither  liberty  of  thought,  of  commerce,  nor 
of  home  in  Austria.  Progress  is  the  terror  of  all 
Catholic  countries,  but  especially  of  Austria,  Bavaria, 
and  Italy  I 

To  go  no  further  back  than  the  sixteenth  century, 
from  that  time  until  now,  no  change  has  come  over 


Romanism.  28$ 

tlieir  policy.  There  they  are  as  they  were  three  cen 
turies  ago,  down  in  eternal  stagnation  and  immobility. 

And  the  people — the  poor  people — the  victims, 
without  education,  without  means  of  industry,  without 
the  sanctity  of  home,  without  anything  but  the  priest 
hood  and  the  police ! 

Alas,  Austria !  you  do  not  see  that  in  refusing  to 
progress,  you  go  backwards.  It  is  not  for  nations  to 
stand  still ;  if  they  are  not  rising,  they  are  sinking ; 
Catholic  Germany  and  Italy  are  sinking.  But  just 
step  over  into  Protestant  Prussia,  and  see  how  she  is 
proudly  marching  up  the  hill  at  the  head  of  liberal 
progress.  See  her  education  universally  diffused,  and 
freedom  of  opinion  everywhere  allowed.  See  com 
merce,  trade,  and  industry  emancipated  from  the 
slavery  that  crushes  them  in  Austria.  See  plenty 
smiling  from  the  fields  of  toil,  and  industrial  activity 
chasing  away  the  spectres  of  pauperism  and  social 
ruin,  that  everywhere  stalk  abroad  like  a  mighty  army 
of  death  over  the  face  of  all  Austria. 

The  contrast  I  have  drawn  here  between  Austria 


286  Romanism. 

and  Prussia,  holds  good  for  all  other  Catholic  countries 
of  Europe,  excepting  Belgium,  over  which  the  bright 
light  of  liberty  is  shining.  She  has  found  that  wher 
ever  you  trace  the  influence  of  priests,  politically,  there 
night  and  gloom  and  tyranny  follow  behind.  Let  us 
next  view  Switzerland,  dear  Switzerland,  which  kind 
ly  opened  its.  arms  to  receive  me,  and  made  me  for  a 
time  the  guest  of  the  republic,  when  I  was  compelled 
at  last  to  fly  before  the  infuriated  bands  of  the  Jesuits 
of  Austria.  My  heart  will  ever  beat  warmly  for 
Switzerland,  but  it  must  beat  sadly,  too,  when  I  think 
of  the  moral  and  social  degradation  into  which  one 
half  of  it  is  plunged  and  held  down  by  the  same  hand 
which  crushes  the  south  of  Germany,  and  which  drove 
me  and  so  many  others  out  of  Germany  and  Bavaria 
because  I  had  defied  its  power,  resisted  its  bribes,  and 
caused  at  least  one  government  to  place  itself  in  oppo 
sition  to  its  schemes  for  enslaving  the  whole  of  Germany 
and  breaking  up  the  republic  of  Switzerland. 

Thank  heaven  these  events  are  matters  of  history, 
which  will  one  day  vindicate  me  from  the  assaults  of 


Romanism.  287 

that  remorseless  band,  who  have  caused  my  name  to 
be  assailed  all  over  the  world,  because  they  had  no 
other  means  to  destroy  a  woman  who  had  ventured 
into  the  arena  of  politics  against  them  and  their 
enslaving  diplomacy. 

Shelley  said,  when  travelling  in  Switzerland,  that 
he  could  tell  a  Protestant  from  a  Catholic  Canton  by 
the  dirty  faces  in  the  latter.  Alas !  that  dirty  face 
looks  out  of  everything ;  out  of  the  education,  the 
industry,  the  commerce,  and  the  whole  social  fabric 
of  all  its  Cantons  in  Switzerland.  To  see  this,  we 
have  but  to  draw  a  parallel  between  the  Protestant 
and  Catholic  Cantons  as  they  sit  there  beside  each 
other,  under  the  same  sky  and  climate,  with  a  simi 
lar  soil  and  territorial  extent. 

Let  us  contrast  Protestant  Zurich,  with  Catholic 
Tessin,  the  latter  of  which  has  been  slowly  decreas 
ing  in  population  since  the  beginning  of  the  present 
century,  and  what  is  left  of  it  is  poor,  dirty,  ragged, 
a  prey  to  tax-gatherers  and  holy  orders.  Land 
naturally  fertile,  left  uncultivated,  the  people  without 


288  Romanism. 

education,  without  ambition,  and  without  any  of  the 
prosperity  of  progressive  civilization.  Such  is  pool 
Tessin,  lying  there  in  hopeless  stagnation  and  gloom, 
a  political  and  moral  dwarf,  and  dead  at  that,  in  the 
midst  of  the  grand  and  gigantic  scenery  of  the  Alps. 
But  take  a  view  of  its  Protestant  neighbor  Zurich, 
and  see  how  changed  the  scene,  compared  with 
Tessin.  The  land  in  Zurich  appeared  to  me  to  be 
sterile  and  naturally  unproductive.  But  the  indus 
trious  activity  of  its  inhabitants  has  overcome  these 
impediments  of  nature,  and  where  the  earth  was  so 
barren  that  the  hand  of  toil  could  not  force  abun 
dance  out  of  it,  I  saw  manufactories  arising,  and 
heard  the  clatter  of  machinery,  and  beheld  the  tide 
of  commerce  bearing  wealth  and  prosperity  to  its 
inhabitants.  Seldom  does  beggary  crouch  in  its 
streets ;  only  in  an  hour's  time  I  had  stepped  into 
another  civilization.  New  manners,  new  morals, 
new  homes,  new  men  and  women  compared  with 
that  sad  fossil  of  society,  lying  just  back  there  in 
Tessin.  I  said  at  once,  this  Canton  must  have  been 


Romanism.  289 

a  long  time  Protestant,  to  present  such  a  scene  of 
civilization  and  activity.  And  when  I  turned  to  the 
page  of  its  history,  I  found  that  it  had  indeed  been 
educated  in  the  Eeformation. 

As  this  spot  was  one  of  the  centres  of  the  Kefor- 
mation,  it  is  now  one  of  the  centres  of  Swiss  civil 
ization. 

Look  next  at  Lucerne,  with  its  naturally  rich  soil, 
lying  in  the  very  heart  of  Switzerland,  geographi 
cally  placed  to  be  the  centre  of  trade,  commerce,  and 
wealth ;  but  alas !  none  of  these  things  are  there ; 
even  its  roads  are  left  uncompleted,  because  its 
besotted  inhabitants,  still  embued  with  an  ancient 
superstition,  believe  that  by  enlarging  the  roads,  they 
open  themselves  to  the  enemy.  You  will  not  need 
to  be  told  that  this  is  a  Catholic  Canton.  It  is  the 
centre  of  the  Catholic  interest  in  Switzerland,  and 
has  the  honor  of  being  the  residence  of  the  Pope's 
Nuncio. 

Poor  Lucerne !  made  so  beautiful  by  the  hand  of 

God,  but  treated   so  badly  by  the  hand   of   man. 

13 


290  Romanism. 

This  Canton,  when  I  saw  it,  did  not  seem  to  me  tc 
have  had  its  face  washed  in  a  quarter  of  a  century. 
Sloth  was  on  its  fields,  ignorance  on  the  countenance 
of  its  inhabitants,  and  filth  everywhere. 

What  a  contrast  to  Protestant  Berne !  Here  I 
found  the  fields  smiling  with  plenty.  Education, 
industry,  and  trade,  if  nothing  else,  would  have  told 
me  that  the  Reformation  had  unlocked  the  prison 
doors  of  this  people.  I  shall  never  forget  how  beau 
tiful  the  people  looked  to  me  in  their  clean  and 
comfortable  homes,  and  their  refined  and  simple 
manners.  It  will  puzzle  the  traveller  to  find  a 
happier  peasantry  in  Europe  than  that  of  the  Canton 
of  Berne. 

Now,  ladies  and  gentlemen,  if  you  go  through 
the  various  Catholic  and  Protestant  Cantons  of 
Switzerland,  you  will  find  this  comparison  to  hold 
true  with  them  all.  No  reflecting  person  can  look 
upon  those  scenes  without  being  impressed  with  the 
fact  that  Rome  is  an  enemy  to  popular  freedom,  and  a 
scourge  of  modern  civilization. 


Romanism.  291 

The  same  thing  stares  at  you  in  every  Catholic 
country  in  Europe.  You  see  it  in  Spain,  Portugal, 
Italy,  and  the  South  of  Ireland ;  and  then  how  do 
you  see  it,  also,  in  the  two  Americas  I  Compare  South 
with  North  America.  Will  you  tell  me  that  climate 
produces  the  indescribable  difference  between  the  two  ? 
You  are  contradicted  by  the  fact,  that  the  advantages 
of  climate  and  soil  are  with  South  America ;  and,  as 
if  Providence  had  intended  it  to  be  the  greatest  pro 
ducing  country  on  earth,  it  has  the  most  majestic  and 
the  longest  rivers  in  the  world.  I  shall  not  pause  to 
picture  the  wretched  condition  of  South  America,  nor 
shall  I  attempt  to  describe  the  prosperity  of  North 
America.  I  begin  to  get  dizzy  myself  when  I  think 
of  it ;  and  to  what  are  you  indebted  for  your  superio 
rity  ?  To  that  sharp  individualism,  that  spirit  of  pro 
gressive  freedom,  involved  in  the  principles  of  the 
reformation. 

In  1781  Raynal  wrote  this  of  your  country,  "  li 
ten  millions  of  men  ever  find  an  assured  subsistence 
in  t]}ese  provinces,  it  will  be  a  great  deal."  Well,  if 


292  Romanism. 

that  little  party  which,  came  out  in  the  Mayflower  had 
been  Catholics  instead  of  Puritans,  if  they  had  brought 
with  them  the  spirit  of  Eome,  instead  of  the  Eeforma- 
tion,  and  if  those  who  followed  them  to  these  shores, 
had  brought  the  same  religion,  you  would  not  have 
been  over  ten  millions  of  people  to  this  day ;  then  the 
world  would  have  had  neither  Steamboats  nor  Tele 
graphs.  These  things  are  too  fast  for  Eome.  She 
looks  to  the  past.  She  stands  with  her  back  to  the 
present:  She  inhabits  the  Statu-quo  and  hates  and 
would  destroy,  if  she  could,  that  principle  of  progress, 
which  gave  you  your  national  existence.  America 
does  not  yet  recognise  how  much  she  owes  to  the  Pro 
testant  principle.  It  is  that  principle  which  has  given 
the  world  the  four  greatest  facts  of  modern  times — 
Steam-boats,  Bail-roads,  Telegraphs,  and  the  American 
Eepublic ! 

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